Patrick Mahomes says he is on track to be under center for the Chiefs’ season opener.
The Kansas City quarterback expressed confidence Tuesday that he will be ready for Week 1 as he continues his recovery from a season-ending knee injury.
Mahomes said he’s felt healthy throughout training camp, allowing him to practice consistently without needing the extra recovery days.
“Being able to go out there, day after day, and have the grind of a camp, that can even be harder than the [regular] season,” Mahomes said during a press conference. “It’s been awesome for me to be able to do that. It’s exciting. I didn’t know if I was going to have to take days off, but my body has responded the right way.
“Honestly, the more we practice, the better I feel.”
Mahomes, who tore his ACL last Dec. 14, has been targeting the first regular season game throughout his rehab process, saying doctors initially gave him a nine-month recovery timeline.
“It’s the amount of time [doctors] said from the beginning, that if I did everything the right way, I would be ready to play Week 1,” he said.
That timetable, Mahomes added, gave him a clear goal throughout the offseason, pushing him to maximize his workouts.
“This has always been the plan,” Mahomes said. “From the day I got the surgery, as quick as I did, to hopefully the first game of the year, the plan will go accordingly, and I’ll be able to go out there and be myself.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Monday he wasn’t quite ready to declare Mahomes his Week 1 starter.
“He’s doing great,” Reid said, per the Kansas City Star. “We’ll just see. I’m literally taking it day by day. There are no predictions here on anything. But if the doctors and the trainers and everybody that are involved with this give him an OK — and then most of all, if he feels like he can, then we’ll address that when we get there. But other than that, these other guys are playing quarterback and doing a nice job with it.”
If Mahomes can’t go, backup quarterback Justin Fields is expected to be Kansas City’s signal-caller on “Monday Night Football” on Sept. 14 against the division rival Broncos in Week 1.
