Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes is rehabbing from a serious injury. He tore his ACL and LCL in his left knee last December. As part of his rehabilitation, Mahomes sought advice from someone who had successfully returned from a nearly identical injury: Tom Brady.

As per the Kansas City Star, Mahomes talked about his interaction with Brady during Kansas' training camp at Missouri Western State University.

"I talked to Tom (Brady) early in the process because he had the same injury, a very similar injury that I had,” said Mahomes.

Mahomes said Brady's experience recovering from a similar knee injury gave him valuable perspective on both the physical and mental challenges of returning from a major knee injury.

According to Pete Sweeney of the Kansas City Star, Brady's injury dates back to 2008 when he tore up his ACL and MCL on his left knee, similar to Mahomes. The injury coincidentally happened against the Chiefs in Week 1 as safety Bernard Pollard hit Brady low.

That tackle made Brady miss the entirety of the season. He returned the following season and won the 2009 NFL Comeback Player of the Year award.

While Brady provided perspective from his own comeback, Mahomes also leaned on other NFL veterans who had experienced similar knee injuries.

Mahomes also found advice from former Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu and veteran tight end Zach Ertz valuable.

Mathieu tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in 2013. He also suffered another ACL tear in 2015. Ertz tore his ACL last December.

Mahomes' head coach Andy Reid had already predicted his recovery would progress faster than expected. Now it does seem Reid's prediction has actually come true.

Mahomes takes next recovery step after Brady's advice

It's good news for the Chiefs as their star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been cleared to return to training camp. That is quite reassuring news for Kansas after their season suffered in his absence.

"It was always the goal to be able to practice when we got to training camp, so we kind of hit that next step, and now it's going to be about building and keep getting better and better so that whenever the regular season comes along I can try to be available and ready to play," Mahomes said, as per Nick Shook of NFL.com.

Reaching training camp healthy marks another milestone in the recovery process after Mahomes sought Brady's guidance earlier this offseason.

Last season, after Mahomes' absence due to a knee injury, the Chiefs missed the playoffs after a decade, finishing their run with 6-11. This is exactly why he doesn't want to miss out on the season opener.

The Chiefs play the reigning AFC West champion Denver Broncos on September 14.

"I don't want to miss that game [against the Broncos] because that's the team that won the division while we were gone, and you want to be out there and ready to go with your teammates," Mahomes had said in a mid July interview with Yahoo Sports.

Kansas officially begins its training camp on July 29. After leaning on Brady's experience throughout his rehabilitation, Mahomes now appears on track to begin the 2026 season healthy as the Chiefs look to rebound from last year's disappointing campaign.

Read more on the Quarter Back Central

Written by

Sourav Ganguly

Edited by

Rudra Dubey