The Kansas City Chiefs are now several months into the postmortem of the 2025 season, a campaign in which they missed playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
Regardless of the subsequent highs and lows of free agency, though, the main factor in their quest to return to contention is the health of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is targeting a Week 1 return and on Wednesday posted a video of a throwing session roughly three months after having surgery to repair his ACL and LCL.
Speaking to NFL Senior National Columnist Judy Battista on Saturday from the Annual League Meeting in Phoenix, head coach Andy Reid acknowledged Mahomes' progress. However, he refrained from committing to an exact recovery timeline for the two-time Most Valuable Player.
"He's doing great," Reid told Battista. "He spends a ton of time in the building. ... He's in there for seven hours a day. It's showing, the progress. Now, to tell you a timeline? I mean, I know what he's striving for. We'll just see where it goes from there."
Should Mahomes ultimately need more time, Kansas City traded a 2027 sixth-round pick to shore up its contingency plan, bringing in Justin Fields from the New York Jets.
Fields struggled with Gang Green in 2025, going 2-7 and finishing four different contests with fewer than 55 passing yards. On the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers, a club that was more equipped to uplift a QB such as the Chiefs are, Fields went 4-2 as a starter despite experiencing similar stretches of ineffectiveness.
Whatever the Chiefs saw in Fields over the past couple seasons, it was enough to make him their backup plan.
"Well, we snuck out and got a good quarterback to back him up," Reid said when asked if the team's offseason planning has been for Mahomes to be ready Week 1. "So, if he doesn't, you know, if he's not able to make it for the beginning of the season, then we know we've got a legitimate backup there that can go win games for us."
No matter who is under center, the job should be made easier by the Chiefs' marquee free-agent signing, running back Kenneth Walker III.
Kansas City struggled to find traction on the ground last season and finished 25th in rushing yards. Walker, the Super Bowl LX MVP, ran for 1,027 yards in his final year as a Seahawk, barely less than Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco combined (1,073). He has the potential to become the next great running back under Reid, who until recently had earned a reputation as a backfield kingmaker, coaching talents such as Brian Westbrook and Jamaal Charles to tremendous success.
"He's a good football player, and it won't change. He's not gonna change coming to us," Reid said of Walker. "He's still going to be a good football player. As long as he stays healthy and moves forward, good things can happen for you. We know that the run game's important and we've got good offensive linemen in front of him, so that will be a plus for him. It should be a plus for our football team."
Outside of bringing in Walker and Fields, plus the return of tight end Travis Kelce, the Chiefs haven't had a massive influx of big-name talent this offseason. In the secondary, particularly, there's been somewhat of an exodus. Kansas City traded cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams, and another starting corner, Jaylen Watson, ended up in L.A. through free agency.
The 68-year-old Reid, who has been coaching in the NFL for half his life now -- having first started on the Green Bay Packers' staff in 1992 -- is more than comfortable with rebuilding the secondary as he has before.
"I've been in positions as a head coach where we've replenished the secondary," Reid said. "At Green Bay, we replenished in the secondary. I've been through that and seen it be productive. Do you want to lose a (Trent) McDuffie? No, but that's today's football. That's how this thing works today. So, you've got to stay flexible, and then you've got to put yourself in a position where you can replenish that. We drafted a good kid (Nohl Williams) last year, so I know we'll continue to work through that this year. I'm really not worried about it. I look forward to seeing who these people are that come in."
Regardless of any needs the Chiefs might have to fill, Reid projects calmness moving forward. He's not worried about corners. He told Battista he won't force an addition at edge rusher, and that Kansas City is "in a better position than most teams" at wide receiver.
In roughly a month's time, exactly what positions the Chiefs decide to bolster will become clear during the draft. So long a heavyweight, the Chiefs are in rare position to pick ninth overall. They also have the No. 29 pick thanks to the McDuffie trade.
The 2026 Chiefs, already coming off a season so alien to the Mahomes era, are set to look different, but in the painful aftermath of going 6-11, Reid has become certain Kansas City can come back stronger.
"We've had a lot of time to think about it," he said. "This has been a long offseason, but it's great to reflect, great to go back in and turn what in your mind is a negative, having the end of the season the way we did, into a positive by retooling. Making sure that you're getting healthy -- coaches and players -- so, stay on top of that. And then go take advantage of it as you work into this next season."
