Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes opens up about Dec. 2025 brutal knee injury’s rehab and recovery with GQ (Image via Instagram: Patrick Mahomes, Brittany Mahomes, and their kids)Last year’s GQ muse was Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. This year, it is star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. December 2025 is etched into Chiefs fans’ minds like never before, particularly because their favorite signal-caller was brutally injured.When GQ photographed and interviewed Patrick Mahomes, the question about his 2025 season-ending injury rehab was inevitable. “I’m almost seven months out now. It’s a lot of work. But I’ve gotten used to it now,” said the Kansas City heartbeat.Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes addresses season ending knee injury and recovery with GQKansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl hope Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn left ACL and LCL in Dec. 2025 while playing against Justin Herbert’s team, the Los Angeles Chargers. He underwent a successful reconstructive surgery in Dallas shortly after the injury. The surgery was performed by the Dallas Cowboys’ head team physician, Dr. Dan Cooper. An ACL/LCL tear usually takes 9 to 12 months to recover. His recovery timeline places him ready for September 2026 to December 2026. The season opener is on September 14, 2026, against Bo Nix’s team - the Denver Broncos. The game will take place at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City on a Monday Night Football showdown. The fierce quarterback feels more than ready to take on the Broncos!Speaking to GQ magazine, the father-of-three said his rehab is progressing well. He is seven months into the recovery timeline. The daily routine seems demanding for him, but he is trying his level best to settle into it and focus on undeterred consistency. He feels grateful to his family [wife Brittany Mahomes] and trainers for keeping him constantly motivated. And he certainly believes he’ll be ready to take on the Denver Broncos!“It’s going good,” Mahomes said. “I’m almost seven months out now. It’s a lot of work, but I’ve gotten used to it now. Now it’s just being consistent and doing it every day. And it helps having people that I like who are pushing me to do that. My trainers in the facility, outside of the facility, and then my family supporting me. I’m trying to be ready to go with one, so I can stay on top of it.”Talking about his brutal knee injury, the three-time Super Bowl champion said that Dec. 2025 was his first major injury. He has dealt with turf toe, which sidelined him for three months. But the ACL tear was his first major injury to have him out for long.“Yeah, I had turf toe, which is an injury – I was out three months with that,” Mahomes said. “But [this is] the first major injury that’s kept me out for a long time, and I’ve missed a lot of games.”Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered the same type of turf toe injury that sidelined Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow for two months and six days during the 2025 season. Although the severity differed -- Burrow had a severe Grade 3 turf toe while Mahomes suffered a Grade 1 injury -- both quarterbacks shared a similar determination to recover quickly. Nevertheless, a torn ACL is the most brutal injury for an NFL player to endure. It not only caused Mahomes to miss games, but it also severely affected his everyday life.Patrick Mahomes could not play with his three beautiful children due to knee injuryThe “everyday life” part where Mahomes could not play with his three beautiful children – Sterling Skye Mahomes, Patrick “Bronze” Lavon Mahomes III, and Golden Raye Mahomes. This part was much harder for him to process because he probably recognizes that his kids’ tender age, when the parents pick them up frequently/easily, won’t last…Not being able to spend time with them hurt him more than watching the Kansas City Chiefs battle for the playoffs from home.“It s*cked during the season and watching the playoffs,” Mahomes said. “And then some of the day-to-day life things I wasn’t able to do with my kids. So that was definitely tough.” ACL tears in NBA vs NFLWhen GQ asked Mahomes about NFL players returning to the gridiron after ACL injuries quicker than NBA players, he said it all came down to movement demands. Basketball players are always on the move; they constantly run, cut, and put stress on their knees. NFL quarterbacks, on the other hand, can control their movements and do not run continuously on the gridiron. Because of this, he feels that the typical ACL recovery timeline fits his situation perfectly. And he expects to be ready for the start of the season.“I think part of it is the position you play and how you move,” Mahomes said. “And then NBA players are so much bigger, height-wise – their ligaments are longer and stuff like that. They play so much more on their feet and moving around. Whereas at quarterback, I do have sudden movements and stuff like that, but I control where I’m at. I’m not always running. The timeline is usually 9 to 12 months – the start of the season’s going to be nine. I’m tracking that way right now.”