Patrick Mahomes, on repaired knee, joins Chiefs for voluntary workouts

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes is still targeting Week 1 for his return to the field with the Kansas City Chiefs, and the two-time MVP has taken an important step in his recovery from torn ligaments in his left knee by participating in voluntary workouts this week.

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Mahomes did individual work and participated in 7-on-7 drills on Thursday, the third day of organized team activities but the first that reporters were allowed to observe. He wore a black brace extending across his knee, where the ACL and LCL were repaired, and while he was able to jog around well, there were times when Mahomes would need to stop to adjust it.

He’ll certainly take that given it was just five months ago that Mahomes underwent surgery to repair the injury.

“It’s good to be back on the field and just be with the guys, more than anything,” Mahomes said. “Some of those days you’re rehabbing with yourself, or with a couple of guys, and you get a little juice when the other guys are out there.”

The Chiefs, who will travel to play the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in Week 7, are being careful of the amount of juice, though.

Mahomes still has not been cleared by Dr. Dan Cooper, the Dallas-based orthopedist who performed the procedure, nor the Kansas City training staff to participate in full-team drills. He also is not supposed to run or sharply cut on the knee quite yet.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid was reluctant to place a timeline on the return of his star quarterback, though Mahomes has insisted all along he will be ready when Kansas City plays the Denver on Sept. 14 in a Monday night matchup at Arrowhead Stadium.

The bigger question is whether Mahomes will be ready for the start of training camp in about two months.

“It’s kind of, ‘We’ll see,’” Mahomes said. “You have these week-to-two week checkpoints that I have to get to. The biggest thing for me now is to get to the running and cutting. … Until I’m able to protect myself and get out there, they’re going to keep me safe. But if I can continue to do things the right way, that’s the hope for me at least.”

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