Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Participated In Kansas City's First OTA Practice

The Kansas City Chiefs had a season to forget in 2025, as the franchise failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014, also making it the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era.

The Chiefs finished the season 6-11 and played the final three weeks without its star quarterback, who tore two ligaments in his left knee in Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers. The injury happened late in the game while the Chiefs’ playoff hopes were on the line.

Following the announcement that Mahomes had torn his ACL and LCL, the two-time Most Valuable Player virtually told the media that he would grind out his rehab and attempt to be able to play Week 1 of the 2026 season.

Well, Mahomes is on track to do just that, as he suited up for the first OTA practice of the summer on Tuesday. According to ESPN’s Nate Taylor, the extent of Mahomes’ participation is unknown due to the fact that it was closed to reporters, but the Chiefs posted a video of the two-time first-team All-Pro throwing a pass with a brace on his left knee to social media.

Reporters will be able to see Mahomes in action Thursday when practice is made public, but these are non-contact practices, so just seeing Mahomes participating in any capacity is what’s important.

“Phase 2 [of the offseason program], remember, there's no contact and there's no offense versus defense,” coach Andy Reid said earlier this month regarding Mahomes’ progress. “It's Phase 3 that you get into that.”

Mahomes was adamant that he would come back for Kansas City’s first matchup, which will be against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football at home. During the offseason, Mahomes spoke to reporters via Zoom and said that he had been rehabbing so hard that his doctors told him to take it easy.

He was hopeful that he would be able to participate in OTAs and do a lot of stuff in training camp, and his first hope has come true already. Prior to the video released by the Chiefs’ social media team, only one clip of Mahomes’ progress was seen by the public.

“Before this week, the lone footage of Mahomes throwing a football since his surgery was a short clip he posted on his Instagram account in late March,” Taylor wrote Wednesday. “In the four-second clip, Mahomes, inside a training gym, executed a five-step dropback at a moderate tempo before releasing the ball, which appeared to be an intermediate pass.”

Mahomes was having a bit of a down year prior to his season-ending injury, but it wasn’t entirely his fault. His receivers were among the league-leaders in drops and the team’s running game was nonexistent.

He finished the season with a 62.7 completion percentage (315 completions/502 attempts), 3,587 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 89.6 passer rating while also having 64 rushes, 422 rushing yards (career-high) and five rushing touchdowns in 14 games.