Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are preparing for their first game of the 2026 NFL season. Mahomes is coming off a season in which he suffered a torn ACL in a 16-13 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 15. Prior to 2025, Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid combined to make at least the AFC Championship Game every season.
Kansas City missed the playoffs for the first time in the Reid-Mahomes era, finishing 6-11 and No. 3 in the AFC West. The Chiefs were awarded the No. 9 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, which they traded for the Cleveland Browns' No. 6 overall pick to select LSU Tigers defensive back Mansoor Delane.
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Kansas City general manager Brett Veach added the unanimous All-American to shore up the defensive backfield after trading All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams in the offseason. Another former LSU All-American cornerback added to the roster is safety Tyrann Mathieu. Mathieu helped the Chiefs win the Super Bowl in 2020 and made a public reveal about the health of Mahomes.
On Mathieu's podcast page on the social media website X, In The Bayou posted a clip of the five-time All-Pro speaking about the health of his quarterback. Mathieu said that he did not expect Mahomes to be available for training camp and was surprised by the recovery timetable. The 5-foot-9 safety also said that Mahomes is running around, looking and acting like the "same old Patrick."
"Tyrann Mathieu gives an update on Patrick Mahomes," In The Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu wrote on X. "After seeing him at Chiefs camp 👀 'I wasn't expecting him to be training camp ready. Definitely wasn't expecting him to be ready for Week 1 ... But he has no injury tag, he's bouncing around, hopping around, talking trash. Like, he's the same old Patrick.'"
Kansas City hosts Los Angeles at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, with coverage available on NFL Network.
