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Kansas City Chiefs vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder provided a rough timeline for Patrick Mahomes’ return from a torn ACL on Wednesday.
Mahomes suffered the injury during the Chiefs’ loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. It was later revealed that Mahomes also tore his LCL. Burkholder suggested the quarterback has a long and uncertain road to recovery ahead of him.
“Every player is different, every sport is different, every position is different and with [Mahomes] traditionally he goes for it so hard and he’s so in tune with what he’s doing that he does it a little faster. Ballpark on this thing is nine months. It could be a month or two less or a month or two more,” Burkholder told reporters.
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“You never know what’s going on, and everybody’s designed differently mechanically, so you just have to get through it, and then he’s got position-specific things that he’s got to do. So right now, I’ll give you this, early in the rehab phase, we’re doing a lot to get his muscles going and get the swelling down, and he’s in a protective brace right now, so all that surgery heals.”
The doctor also suggested that Mahomes’ structured lifestyle could result in a faster recovery than the average player.
“As you know, his mindset as a player is a little different than most. He’s so regimented in what he does, he’s in here at six in the morning, he’s the last guy out at night. He’s going to take rehab like that,” added Burkholder.
“He and I talked about, look, you have a schedule right now in the season where you get treatment at this point, film at this point, practice — that’s how rehab should be and that’s how it’s always been with him and it will. When you put all those little things together, it allows the player to come back faster. They don’t heal faster, they just get back to performance faster.”
Mahomes has a history of returning from injury faster than expected.
PATRICK MAHOMES SUFFERES BRUTAL KNEE INJURY AS CHIEFS ARE ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFF CONTEST
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) scrambles during the first half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
He famously played through a dislocated kneecap in 2019 and missed just two games. In that year’s postseason, he suffered bunion/ankle issues and played through severe pain to win Super Bowl LIV. Mahomes then played through a severe ankle sprain in the 2022 playoffs to win his second Super Bowl.
Mahomes underwent a surgical procedure performed in Dallas by Dr. Dan Cooper Monday night to treat both LCL and ACL. The good news for Mahomes is that he suffered no artery damage, no nerve damage, no joint surface damage and no meniscal damage.
Burkholder said advanced medical technology was used in the procedure.
“There are new techniques out there surgically, and I think the bigger and faster these guys are, the more you see injuries like this,” Burkholder said.
“So the doctors are better at doing that, and we’ve certainly all picked a doctor who has done this surgery before, and he did some techniques based on what was there that’s unique to the case, so sometimes you have to use a graft on the lateral collateral ligament. [Dr. Cooper’ didn’t have to do that because he has advanced techniques. And the same way with rehab, we have gotten a lot better at rehabilitation and the athletes have gotten way better at nutrition and recovery and all the things that go with it.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid expressed optimism for Mahomes’ recovery and said the quarterback will split time between Kansas City and Dallas as he rehabs.
“He’s a pretty fast healer that way and his attitude, that’s about 90% of how you go about it (and) how willing are you to push through the pain of getting it right,” Reid said.
“He’s got a great relationship with [Assistant Athletic Trainer[ Julie [Frymyer]and I would imagine that would be the primary thing, and then if he were to go to Dallas to visit or have a change of scenery for a moment, I think the majority of that would be done with Julie. She kind of takes care of him when he’s had his various injuries or maintenance stuff, so I’d imagine he’ll be here most of the time.”
After Mahomes’ injury in the fourth quarter, backup Gardner Minshew was unable to get the offense into field goal range for Harrison Butker to attempt a possible overtime-forcing field goal. With 16-13 the loss to Los Angeles Chargersthe Chiefs were eliminated from the playoffs.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes clutches his knee after being injured during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Kansas City, Missouri. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffman)
It will be the first time since 2014 that the Chiefs are not in the playoffs and many see it as the end of the “dynasty” that has made three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, winning two of them before falling to the Philadelphia Eagles last year.
The Chiefs will evaluate their roster over the next three games, which includes Minshew starting the rest of the way under center. But all eyes will be on Mahomes this offseason as it marks a bitter end to a roller coaster season for Kansas City.
