Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes' knee 'feels great': 'I forget about it sometimes'

Roughly five weeks away from the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos squaring off in the Monday Night Football season premiere, Patrick Mahomes is looking more and more as though he might be ready for prime time by Sept. 14.

Seven months after tearing multiple ligaments in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Mahomes is hitting training camp running and is giving his knee rave reviews on how it’s holding up.

“It feels great, pushing every single day, trying to stack days together,” Mahomes said Saturday, via team transcript. “I feel like when you're tired, sometimes you don't even think about it. So, I'm trying to protect it, but at the same time, I’m trying to push it and get myself ready to go for the season.”

Indeed, the three-time Super Bowl winner is scrambling on a fine line of pushing himself to make it back for Week 1 and avoiding pushing too much and enduring a setback.

Thus far, Mahomes appears to be making the right moves as he has checked off a monumental milestone in getting fully cleared for training camp.

“I had to pass a test that that was pretty, pretty hard,” Mahomes said. “And so, it was kind of about making me—so basically it made me really tired. Then they made me go out there and do a lot of cutting and jumping and all that different type of stuff. And so, I'm a competitor. So, when it comes to a test of physical ability, I wanted to go out there and do it, but (Dr. Dan Cooper) he wasn't going to take it easy on me. He was going to push me to my limit and see what I got.

“Once he cleared me, it wasn't like he was just going to clear me to clear me. And so, I knew that I could go out there and be myself and now it's about proving to the coaches and the doctors, as they watch all this stuff that I can go out there and do that in the regular season as well.”

Mahomes has traditionally gotten reps in preseason play, but head coach Andy Reid said Friday it was unlikely the three-time Super Bowl MVP would play in the team’s preseason opener against the Los Angeles Rams, who won’t be playing reigning AP NFL MVP Matthew Stafford.

Still, Mahomes’ recovery is flying by at this point. That’s how it feels, any way.

“It definitely feels like it's going quick,” he said. “I feel like your whole career though you have to enjoy the moments. To have that different perspective, now being a father is to enjoy the little moments and enjoy the time at camp, enjoy cafeteria, because all of a sudden you're going to look up, you're not going to be coming back here. And so, I hope that's a long ways away but I do enjoy getting to be here, listen to this music I've never heard of and just be that the old guy at camp now and try to build those relationships with your teammates.”

Through nine seasons, the 30-year-old has had more moments to enjoy than most franchises. Last season wasn’t one of them, though, as Kansas City failed to make the playoffs for the first time in Mahomes’ career. And then, of course, there was the disaster of tearing his ACL and LCL.

As Mahomes continues to strengthen his left knee, he’s certainly running a race with it, looking to get back for the season opener and avoid missing a game due to injury for the first time since 2019.

Whenever he does return, another comeback awaits.

Longtime rulers of the AFC, Kansas City is looking for a postseason return and to prove its glory era hasn’t expired. Coming off his worst statistical season as a starter, Mahomes has plenty of reason for inspiration, but starting the season at full strength is the most important hurdle at the moment.

“I forget about it sometime,” he said. “I try to be smart, like I said, but there's sometimes you get through camp, man, you're trying to compete practices are long and I mean, you want to win the rep. So, there's times where I do forget about it and just play football, which is a good thing and then I'll have to do that again whenever we get to the regular season. So, it's about learning how to play with what I’ve got, and I feel like I'm able to move and do the things that I can and we're going to keep pushing it and see where I can get it to. So I can hopefully get that okay to go out there and play Week 1.”