Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes continues to amaze in training camp at how quickly he has recovered from a torn ACL and LCL in his knee that ended his season in the final few weeks. That doesn't mean he'll be out there for the preseason opener Saturday against the Los Angeles Rams.
Head coach Andy Reid announced that Mahomes won't play, and he'll go with quarterbacks Justin Fields, Garrett Nussmeier and Chris Oladokun will split the work in the game.
Mahomes looks like he hasn't missed a beat, even though he's running the offense one day shy of eight months since suffering the injury, which typically takes nine months or more to recover from. Early in camp, Mahomes was peppering rookie receiver Cyrus Allen with throws. This week, though, he has connected with Tyquan Thornton consistently.
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport was in Chiefs camp earlier this week, and he said he couldn't be more impressed at where Mahomes is in his recovery.
Last week, Andy Reid said Mahomes likely wouldn't play in the first preseason game, and he cast doubt that Mahomes would play at all in the preseason.
"I mean, there's a pretty good chance where I don't play him," Reid said of Mahomes. "[The] percentages are leading that way. I don't know if I'll play him in the second or third game. I don't know that. The percentages probably lean against not doing that."
This isn't an indictment on where he's at in his recovery. In fact, he's probably well ahead of schedule. Mahomes has led the first team-offense in every 11-on-11 period, displaying his accuracy and even improvements with his deep passes. Every practice has also featured a repetition or two of Mahomes scrambling or sprinting out of the pocket to showcase that he can cut and change directions when necessary.
Mahomes is on board with how the team is handling him, and he has his sights set on getting Chiefs Kingdom back to the promised land, beginning in Week 1.
