Mike North: NFL weighing Patrick Mahomes risk for early marquee games

TL;DR

The NFL is assessing Patrick Mahomes' recovery from his ACL and LCL injuries as the schedule release approaches. His participation in early marquee games remains uncertain despite reports of him being on track for OTAs.

Key points

Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL on December 14, 2025.
He is on track to participate in the Chiefs' first OTAs later this month.
The NFL is uncertain about scheduling marquee games around Mahomes' health.
Jay Glazer reported Mahomes would return before Week 1.
The NFL wants Mahomes in primetime but faces scheduling challenges.

Patrick MahomesKansas City Chiefs

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid pre game against the Jets at MetLife Stadium.

Credit: Robert Deutsch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The NFL schedule release is coming in the next few weeks, and one of the questions hanging over it is one the league would probably rather not have to answer: what do you do with Patrick Mahomes?

Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL on Dec. 14, 2025, and has been rehabbing aggressively ever since. Fox’s Jay Glazer reported in March that Mahomes would be back “by far” before Week 1, and ESPN reported last week that he is on track to participate in the Chiefs’ first OTAs later this month. But “on track for OTAs in May” and “ready for a prime time game in September” are two different things, and the NFL has to build a schedule around a quarterback whose status remains technically uncertain.

North spoke about prior to the NFL Draft on the It’s Always Game Day in Buffalo podcast, admitting that the league wants Mahomes in primetime, but it can’t build its marquee matchups around a quarterback who may or may not be healthy when the season kicks off.

“He’s one of the biggest stars in the league, and I don’t think any of us would feel great if we had him in prime time early in the season and he missed the first four weeks or whatever,” North said. “That being said, that’s a good football team, that’s a good coach over there, and they went and signed a veteran starting quarterback in this league.”

That veteran quarterback is Justin Fields, whom the Chiefs acquired from the in March, sending just a 2027 sixth-round pick to get him. And while at this point, Andy Reid is Andy Reid, and ’s roster remains one of the better ones in the league. Still, there’s a meaningful difference between Chiefs-Bills with Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs-Bills without him, and the NFL knows this.