Patrick Mahomes, Rashee Rice Receive Full Clearance

In addition to having its centerpiece player back at work, Kansas City will have Rashee Rice available. Reid said (via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo) Rice is “doing great” and has been fully cleared. The embattled wide receiver underwent knee surgery before he learned he would need to serve a 30-day jail stay for violating probation terms. He has been rehabbing at the Chiefs’ facility since his release.

As The Ringer’s Lindsay Jones points out, Mahomes underwent knee surgery just 221 days ago. The two-time MVP has shown an ability to play through lesser injuries in the past and make quicker-than-expected returns. This represented new territory for the 10th-year vet, but it had been expected he would be ready to go when the Chiefs reported to St. Joseph, Mo., for camp.

Mahomes, 30, went down late in a Week 15 Chiefs-Chargers matchup. No two ACL tears are the same, but a nine-month recovery timetable is generally associated with this injury. Mahomes beating the eight-month mark, though we will still need to see how he fares in full practice and whether the Chiefs use him in preseason games this year, certainly is an impressive accomplishment. Mahomes was a participant in OTAs and minicamp, but the Chiefs held him out of team work. That will soon change.

A host of active quarterbacks have been ready for Week 1 after an ACL tear that occurred past the regular-season midpoint. Joe Burrow made such a return in 2021, while Joe Flacco suffered a tear in late November 2015 before returning on time in 2016. Daniel Jones went down in early November 2023 and made a return. It took longer for Kyler Murray to come back from a December 2022 tear; he reemerged in Week 10 of the 2023 season. Though, the ’23 Cardinals’ status as a rebuilding team launching a new regime did not provide an incentive for a quick Murray return.

While Mahomes does not rely on mobility like Murray does, he is among the greatest improvisational QBs the NFL has seen. The future Hall of Famer regularly relies on his legs to extend plays. Even as they respectively returned for age-26 and age-27 seasons, Murray and Jones were not the same in terms of mobility when they first resurfaced. How Mahomes (31 in September) looks in that department will be critical for a Chiefs team coming off a disappointing 6-11 campaign. They were 6-8 in games Mahomes started, illustrating how far off track the 2025 season went for the then-three-time reigning AFC champions.

Mahomes said (via ESPN.com’s Nate Taylor) he will wear a brace on his left knee upon returning. We are still six-plus weeks away from the season, giving him an extended runway to prepare. The Chiefs open their season at home against the Broncos, who will also have a quarterback (Bo Nix) coming off surgery. Nix is expected to be ready for training camp after two ankle procedures.

The Chiefs gave Mahomes a second extension — this one an eight-year, $504.75MM deal that locks him down through 2033 — during his rehab journey, and the NFL scheduled three Kansas City primetime games over the first six weeks. That provided a good indication of where this recovery was headed.

While Mahomes’ process has unfolded smoothly, Rice’s has not. Rice underwent surgery to address the knee injury he sustained in 2024, but he soon faced the unusual circumstance of rehabbing it while in prison. However, the fourth-year wideout was allowed to rehab at a medical facility during his jail sentence.

Rice had been expected to be ready for camp, and the Chiefs have not received an indication the NFL will suspend him a second time. Rice served a six-game ban for his role in a 2024 hit-and-run accident that brought eight felony charges. It is not out of the question the league will act once again, and as Rice has proven unreliable from a health and off-field standpoint, no extension is being planned. It seems likely the Chiefs will need to see a stretch of dependability from their top wideout before entering extension talks. Rice’s rookie contract expires after the season.

The Chiefs will make an active/PUP move Friday, however, with defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott landing on that list. The 2025 second-round pick suffered an ACL tear in Week 7 of last season.