Patrick Mahomes is still targeting Week 1 for his return to the field with the Kansas City Chiefs, and the two-time MVP has taken an important step in his recovery from torn ligaments in his left knee by participating in voluntary workouts this week.
Mahomes did individual work and participated in 7-on-7 drills on Thursday, the third day of organized team activities but the first that reporters were allowed to observe. He wore a black brace extending across his knee, where the ACL and LCL were repaired, and while he was able to jog around well, there were times when Mahomes would need to stop to adjust it.
He’ll certainly take that given it was just five months ago that Mahomes underwent surgery to repair the injury.
“It’s good to be back on the field and just be with the guys, more than anything,” Mahomes said. “Some of those days you’re rehabbing with yourself, or with a couple of guys, and you get a little juice when the other guys are out there.”
The Chiefs are being careful of the amount of juice, though.
Mahomes still has not been cleared by Dr. Dan Cooper, the Dallas-based orthopedist who performed the procedure, nor the Kansas City training staff to participate in full-team drills. He also is not supposed to run or sharply cut on the knee quite yet.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid was reluctant to place a timeline on the return of his star quarterback, though Mahomes has insisted all along he will be ready when Kansas City plays the Denver on Sept. 14 in a Monday night matchup at Arrowhead Stadium.
The bigger question is whether Mahomes will be ready for the start of training camp in about two months.
“It’s kind of, ‘We’ll see,'” Mahomes said. “You have these week-to-two week checkpoints that I have to get to. The biggest thing for me now is to get to the running and cutting. … Until I’m able to protect myself and get out there, they’re going to keep me safe. But if I can continue to do things the right way, that’s the hope for me at least.”
Mahomes typically spends the early portion of the offseason at his home in Texas, where Chiefs wide receivers and tight ends tend to congregate for workouts run by him. But he has spent almost every day since surgery last December — the day after he was hurt in a game against the Chargers — doing the rehab work under the watchful eye of one of the Chiefs’ trainers, Julie Frymyer.
His typical schedule involves arriving at the training facility early, doing rehab work, then going through the usual team meetings. On-field work began this week, after which comes a recovery period and then another round of rehab work.
“Then I go home and chase kids around until I fall asleep,” Mahomes said.
“I think everybody is different in how you go about it,” Reid said, “but I wouldn’t put it past where he’s at, and I don’t judge it. People say, ‘Is he ahead of schedule?’ Well, who made the schedule? Everybody is different. The way he goes about it is different. He and Julie have spent a ton of time working together, and she’s tough on him. She puts him through the ropes. And he’s willing to come back.
“Half the battle on that, besides the healing part, is trusting the person doing the rehab with you, and then showing up the next day.”
The Chiefs have another round of voluntary workouts next week — Reid said participation was near total from the team, despite their optional nature. Then comes a mandatory three-day minicamp beginning June 9, followed by a break before training camp.
The Chiefs have yet to announce the date for their arrival in St. Joseph, Missouri, but it is typically around July 21. That would give Mahomes just under two more months to continue his rehab before the real ramp-up to the regular season begins.
“The first step was getting to 7-on-7, and for me, it was more seeing the defense. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out there, seeing the plays develop,” Mahomes said. “The next step will be getting with the team and getting under center and stuff like that. But we will progress to that. And then it will be going out there live with the guys, and then we’ll be playing games.”
Reporting by the Associated Press.
