Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
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Quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes faces a long road ahead as he aims to recover from a complicated injury and get his team back into the playoffs, but experts don’t have too much confidence in him.
Mahomes suffered a torn ACL and LCL in December, sending him to a long rehab process and uncertainty about whether he’ll be ready to start the season. While Mahomes himself has been optimistic, early odds don’t favor the Chiefs quarterback to bounce immediately back to his MVP form.
Patrick Mahomes Not Favored to Win MVP
As SI.com’s Alex Brasky noted, Mahomes is low on the early list of MVP candidates for the 2026 NFL season. The Chiefs quarterback was listed in seventh, behind five other quarterbacks in his conference and just ahead of reigning MVP Matthew Stafford.
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen was in the lead, followed by Lamar Jackson and Drake Maye. There was a jump to the next tier of candidates, which included Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, and Mahomes.
While it’s still too early to make any determinations, the odds demonstrate that experts are pessimistic that Mahomes will bounce back quickly from an injury that takes some players close to a year to bounce back from — and one that often robs them of athleticism for 18 months or more.