Adam Schefter Warns Chiefs Fans About Patrick Mahomes' Outlook For Week 1

The Ksnsas City Chiefs' 2026 schedule suggests that Patrick Mahomes will be active for Week 1. Will he be effective though? That's an entirely different question.

It was confirmed Thursday that Kansas City will begin its regular season against the Denver Broncos on "Monday Night Football." The league must be confident that Mahomes will have recovered from his ACL injury by then. If not, why else would you put the Chiefs in a standalone time slot.

For what it's worth, FOX insider Jay Glazer reported back in March that Mahomes was ahead of schedule.

"His pain threshold is different, his work ethic is different. So at first they were like, ‘Oh, you know, start of the season.' I would probably hedge on him being [back] sooner than that. By far. Because he just attacks things," Glazer said, via Awful Announcing. "He got (the surgery) before it swelled up. So that was on a Tuesday. I believe it was either Thursday or Friday that week, he was already in the Chiefs' training room doing rehab. And he had already got his knee bending at 90 degrees at that point. He's just different, he heals differently."

Even though Mahomes seems to be doing well, ESPN's Adam Schefter thinks fans should temper their expectations.

"Let's not diminish that he tore his ACL, he tore his LCL. This is a major injury," Schefter said. "How does a player come back from that? Assuming he plays that Monday night opener, do you think we're getting the full-on Patrick Mahomes in Week 1?"

Clearly, Schefter believes Mahomes needs time to knock off the rust.

What's the latest on Mahomes?

Chiefs coach Andy Reid was asked about Mahomes' recovery process during an appearance on NFL Network. He was unwilling to say that his star quarterback is ahead of schedule.

"He's doing great right now and that's kinda how you gotta go about this," Reid said, via Pro Football Talk. "People go ‘well, he's ahead of schedule.' Who made the schedule? Everybody's different, let's just take it day by day. Nobody is spending more time than he is rehabbing, he spends seven hours here going through it. He hasn't missed a day and he wants more, all the things that are Patrick Mahomes. Let's see where we are at as we go forward as we get a little bit closer to the game."

Obviously, the Chiefs would love to have Mahomes for all 17 games this fall. When he's playing at his best, the franchise is almost always in Super Bowl contention.

That being said, Kansas City has to prioritize Mahomes' long-term health. There's no point in risking his safety just so he could play Week 1.

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 8:30 PM.