Patrick Mahomes plans to do everything he did before for the Chiefs
· Yahoo Sports
After Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid confirmed rumors that quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be a full participant to begin training camp, the MVP signal-caller talked through the latest checkpoint in his goal to start Week 1 “Monday Night Football” against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium.
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The press conferences marked the official start of camp, which could be one of the most challenging ever for Mahomes. Wearing the non-contact jersey that every quarterback wears in camp, it’s important to remember that “100%” in St. Joe doesn’t mean “100%” for a regular-season status.
To that point, coach Reid doesn’t see camp being much different for Mahomes, expressing that when asked about it by reporters on Friday afternoon.
“I don’t think it will be,” Reid answered. “We’ll see about the games and all that once we get there, but right now… he’s been given clearance.”
“It was always the goal to be able to practice when we got to training camp,” Mahomes told reporters during his press conference. “So we’ve kind of hit that next step, and now, it’s just going to be about building.”
After months of private rehabilitation, Chiefs Kingdom will now have eyes on their favorite quarterback for the rest of his journey to being ready to start in the season opener on September 14th.
Mahomes sounds locked in on proving to all spectators that the injury and its recovery process won’t stop him from playing the position at its highest level.
“You have to continue to work,” Mahomes said about himself. “Get better and better, and go throughout practice, prove to the coaches, prove to the doctors, everybody, that I’m the same quarterback I was before, if not better, and I can go out there, take care of myself and win football games.”
"Prove to the coaches, prove to the doctors and everybody that I'm the same quarterback I was before, if not better."
— ESPN (@espn) July 24, 2026
Patrick Mahomes shares his mindset coming back from a torn ACL and LCL ahead of training camp 👀 pic.twitter.com/964N8fWqXp
“It’s a long process; the process isn’t over,” Mahomes acknowledged. “It’s something I’ll probably deal with for the next few years of my career and throughout the rest of my career. You have to stay on top of that stuff, but I feel comfortable now being able to go out there and run the offense the way it’s supposed to be run.”
The Chiefs’ starting quarterback is ready for full-time practice, comfortable wearing a brace because he wore one in college. There’s no plan for when he could shed the additional protection.
Regardless, Mahomes made it clear at one point in the press conference that he won’t be satisfied with any limited version of himself.
“I plan to be able to do everything I did before,” Mahomes said.
From here, he is focused on a list of things to improve on, just like any other year.
“I’m obviously going to try and take care of myself a little bit better than I did last season,” Mahomes pointed out. “I think I ran a little bit too much last season, so I’ll try to be better with that.”
The gunslinger was also reflective of his play before an injury came into the equation.
“I feel like I wasn’t playing my best football at the end of last year before I got hurt,” Mahomes shared. “So I have to find ways to get better [at] navigating the pocket, running the offense better, getting the ball out of my hands and letting other guys make plays.”
“I think this injury helped me kind of focus on those little things as I kind of get back to being who I am.”
He believes he will need an emphasis on translating offseason gym strength to on-field quarterback play after spending most of his time in a weight room to rehabilitate.
“When you talk to guys who have had the injury I had,” Mahomes began. “A lot of times, you feel stronger; I feel stronger than I’ve ever felt, as far as strength, lifting and stuff like that. So now, it’s just about getting that quarterback stuff down: moving in the pocket quick, making those quick movements, reacting and doing stuff like that.”
Above all, Mahomes will need to make sure he’s available to the team for every game played by the Chiefs, all the way through the ultimate stage in February, potentially.
As Patrick Mahomes builds to 100% from the knee injury, he remembers this play from his first game back from a knee dislocation in 2019
— Ron Kopp Jr (@RonOnChiefs) July 24, 2026
"It looks cool, but I actually did it because I was trying to get my knee out of there."
Good example of 15 playing congizant of his knee pic.twitter.com/9z6notW6pc
He will need to play with caution for his knee, something he has experience with from the 2019 season. Speaking with reporters, he remembered the first game returning from dislocating his knee that season: a loss to the Tennessee Titans. He made a highlight-reel throw that he revealed a key detail about: he made the jump throw in an attempt to keep his knee out of harm’s way in a muddied pocket.
He admitted that it was a turning point in letting cautiousness from the injury affect his game.
“After that play. I showed that I could be athletic,” Mahomes remembered. “I could jump off the knee I injured, and I can still make plays that I’ve always made.”
We shouldn’t anticipate any jump passes in St. Joe, but Chiefs fans will be keeping an eye on Mahomes every day, watching him build back to feeling like the playmaker we’ve always known, and maybe more.