The Kansas City Chiefs are in a bunch of big games this year, but Reid said the NFL didn't ask about Mahomes' rehab.
The Kansas City Chiefs were prominently featured in last night’s NFL schedule release, to the point where you might think the NFL had some inside intel on the progress of quarterback Patrick Mahomes as he continues to rehabilitate after suffering a serious knee injury last year.
That’s especially true given that the Chiefs will be featured in solo games in prime slots twice in the first two weeks, first in their Monday night home opener against the Denver Broncos, then again in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts.
But coach Andy Reid said this didn’t happen, according to a report from Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk that referenced Reid’s appearance on the NFL Network yesterday. Instead Reid provided some of the usual positive prattle about Mahomes that amounts to more of the same.
“He’s doing great right now and that’s kinda how you gotta go about this,” Reid said. “People go ‘well, he’s ahead of schedule.’ Who made the schedule? Everybody’s different, let’s just take it day by day.
“Nobody is spending more time than he is rehabbing, he spends seven hours here going through it. He hasn’t missed a day and he wants more, all the things that are Patrick Mahomes. Let’s see where we are at as we go forward as we get a little bit closer to the game.”
Reid did joke that the league may have used the schedule as “motivation” for both quarterbacks in their opening Monday night game, as Denver quarterback Bo Nix is also rehabilitating from a broken ankle. It’s nice to know Reid has a sense of humor about all this, but he also added that the schedule won’t change his team’s plans as they go through training camp.
“He’s making progress, but you don’t know,” Reid said. “That’s the reality of it. You’re not going to put the player in a position where he can’t tend to himself on the football field.”
That may or may not be true. Mahomes has been pushing hard to play, and he continues to make it known that he wants to be out on the field for Week 1. He’s been known to play through serious injuries before, and the toughest part of Reid’s job in training camp may be holding Mahomes back.
The reality here is that the league almost certainly checked in with Reid and the Chiefs, and it’s likely that they got some kind of serious update that included information about Mahomes’ medicals. The NFL knows that first Monday night game will draw huge interest regardless of who’s taking snaps, but you don’t do this kind of scheduling for marquee entertainment if there’s a good chance an understudy may be involved.