The Kansas City Chiefs and superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes are the face of the NFL, and it sounds like the league is preparing to give them some special treatment at the start of the season.
In December 2025, Mahomes suffered a torn ACL, sidelining him for several months. Although he’s been working his way back through rehab and recovery, there’s still real doubt about whether he’ll be ready for Week 1, and there’s a chance he could even miss several weeks to begin the season.
With Mahomes’status uncertain, the Chiefs signed veteran quarterback Justin Fields during the offseason, who has been handling first-team reps while Mahomes continues his recovery. While Fields is undeniably experienced, starting 53 games throughout his career, he is certainly not Mahomes, posting just a 16-37 record as a starter.
If the Chiefs do have to roll with Fields as their starter to open the season, that would be a significant dropoff from Mahomes, and the NFL knows it.
During a recent interview, Vice President of Broadcast Planning and Scheduling Mike North openly admitted that the team would be reluctant to schedule a big-time game early in the season if there’s a possibility that Mahomes would not be available to play.
“He’s one of the biggest stars in the league, and I don’t think any of us would feel great if we had him in prime time early in the season and he missed the first four weeks or whatever,” North said during a recent interview. “That being said, that’s a good football team, that’s a good coach over there, and they went and signed a veteran starting quarterback in this league.”
North specifically mentioned a possible early-season showdown between the Chiefs and the Bills and admitted that the league would prefer to schedule that game at a time when Mahomes would be healthy enough to face off against Bills quarterback Josh Allen.
“Would the league want to use the big Chiefs-Bills game in Week 1? That’s a fair question,” North said. “I’m not sure it does 30 or 35 million viewers in Week 1 without Patrick Mahomes. So certainly some thought to maximizing that quarterback and this rivalry.”
Obviously, the league would be doing this to protect its own interests and not specifically to help the Chiefs, but that would be the end result. The Chiefs would be getting some special treatment as they would be avoiding some of the more difficult games on their schedule until after their star quarterback was ready to play. And it’s not some conspiracy; an NFL executive is openly discussing it.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.