Mahomes Explains Attention to Mental Health During Rehab

Hard knowing that he’s not in those playoff games for the first time in his NFL career, and hard looking at the steep rehabilitation road ahead.

Balancing the wide range of emotions on that road can be challenging, Mahomes explained. He understands that he’s working each day – and there are no days off during ACL rehab – not just for himself and his NFL future, but also the future of the Chiefs.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “I mean, that's something that I have to think of, I think the coaches and the organization all have to think of, at the same time. That's why they give me limits to where I can push it.”

Everything, everyone he needs is available

Mahomes has all the resources and people, in addition to cutting-edge and state-of-the-art rehab methods, to return as quickly as possible. He said his goal is Week 1, which fortuitously falls a week later than normal, the weekend of Sept. 13.

But he also knows, just like he would step out of bounds on a scramble without taking an unnecessary hit, he can’t push too far, too quickly. That’s why he’s completing most of his rehab work at Chiefs headquarters with vice president of sports medicine and performance Rick Burkholder and, the quarterback of his rehab, assistant athletic trainer Julie Frymyer.

The place you can't go yet

“There's a place you can't go yet,” said Mahomes, whose surgery was successfully completed by Dr. Dan Cooper, “which I want to but I can't go yet. But at the same time, they're doing it for a reason, and that starts with Dr. Cooper and his team. That starts with Julie and Rick and all of them in the training room, and it kind of feeds throughout the entire organization.”

And just as important as his physical comeback is his mental rebound. Rehabilitation is grueling, but Mahomes, the Chiefs and his wife, Brittany, have taken steps to ensure his mental health is given appropriate attention.

“It definitely weighs on your mental a little bit,” he explained. “But for me, I think just having that goal in mind of trying to get better every day, and knowing what I'm striving to do, which is to be ready as quickly as possible, and have a chance to play in that opening-day game, no matter where it is, so that I'm there with my teammates and can be at training camp and doing what I need to do.”

Mahomes said having clear goals, healthy perspective and allowing for margins – understanding bad days will happen – help his mindset during rehab.

“I think that's kind of pushed me through some of those mental hurdles, and that, as well as having a great wife that is able to keep me involved with the kids, and the kids understand that that Dad can't necessarily be the dad that I usually am, throwing them around the couches and stuff like that.

“But I'm there and I'm trying and doing stuff like that. I think that's been good for my mental, just being around the kids and being around the family, and have a lot of great people around me.”

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