Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes is in trouble in return from torn ACL to face Broncos

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The Kansas City Chiefs are coming into 2026 with a clean slate after a nightmare campaign in 2025, headlined by an injury to Patrick Mahomes and a disastrous 6-11 finish.

Most players who tear their ACL late in the season won’t be ready, or even that close to ready, to return by Week 1 of the next season. Packers star Micah Parsons’ torn ACL from a similar timeline is going to bleed well into the 2026 season, and Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers is still working his way back from the same injury much earlier in 2025. But Mahomes has taken all of the first-team reps in training camp and appears ready to go for Week 1.

Watching whether Mahomes is at 100% or not upon his return will be what many have their eye on when the Chiefs take on the Denver Broncos to open the 2026 season on Monday Night Football in Kansas City. But even if he is feeling like his old self, he will have his hands full against a Broncos defense that was one of the best in the NFL last season and returns all of its starters in 2026.

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Let’s get into what Mahomes is up against in this game and why the Broncos are built to make things tough on the Chiefs, whether the three-time Super Bowl champion is at his best or not.

Broncos will stifle Chiefs with man coverage

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The Broncos have the best cornerback in football in Patrick Surtain II and a number of other quality cornerbacks such as Riley Moss, Ja’Quan McMillian and Jahdae Barron. They also have an aggressive defensive coordinator in Vance Joseph who likes to blitz and play man coverage.

In 2025, the Broncos played man coverage on 33% of their coverage snaps, the third-highest rate in the NFL according to Football Insights data. They are very good at it, as Surtain is able to take away your best receiver and the other corners are more than capable of holding up while this dangerous pass rush gets home.

On the other side, the Chiefs are not well-equipped to handle man coverage, especially teams that can be sticky and physical at the line of scrimmage like the Broncos can. Xavier Worthy is small and gets pushed around by bigger corners, Rashee Rice is better against zone and is coming off of a knee injury, and the rest of the Kansas City wideouts are unproven.

Beating man has been a big problem for the Chiefs for a number of years now, ever since Tyreek Hill was traded to Miami and Travis Kelce left his prime. The problem has gotten worse and worse over the years and is a big reason why the Mahomes-led passing game has become less and less explosive.

In a loss to the Broncos last season, Mahomes struggled in a loss in Denver. He finished 29-of-45 for just 276 yards, one touchdown and one interception while logging a -0.05 EPA per dropback, well below his normal standard. Joseph’s defenses have given him similar troubles in the past, and that could be a theme on Monday night.

Can the Kansas City offensive line hold up?

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The Broncos have one of the best four-man pass rush units in the league, headlined by the bendy Nik Bonitto and Zach Allen on the interior. The Chiefs have always been strong on the interior of the offensive line, but their tackles have been up and down over the years.

Left tackle is a spot to watch in this game, as starter Josh Simmons is not expected to play and rookie Kahlil Benson is expected to take his place. Benson had a strong 2025 season at Indiana after a shaky 2024 at Colorado, and he was also one of the standouts for Kansas City during training camp, but he is still unproven and is facing a major step up in competition on Monday.

During that game that Mahomes played in Denver last season, he took three sacks and was pressured 14 times. With a tackle situation that is arguably worse coming into this game, there is a world where the star quarterback will be under siege on Monday.

That’s before even bringing up Mahomes’ mobility, which could be compromised in his first full-speed game action since coming back from the ACL injury. If he even loses some of his burst or athleticism getting out of the pocket or maneuvering around back there, the Broncos pass rush might have a field day. Denver led the league in sacks last season and finished third in pressure rate, and this is a good matchup for them to get a head start on that again.

Kenneth Walker III’s impact

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On top of the Chiefs’ inability to generate explosive plays in the passing game last season, Kansas City also got almost no big plays in the running game. Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt formed what was an efficient run game that was successful in short-yardage scenarios, but the two of them didn’t get many explosives.

Insert Kenneth Walker III, the Chiefs’ prized free-agent addition who is coming off of winning a Super Bowl MVP with the Seattle Seahawks. Walker is essentially the opposite of what Hunt and Pacheco were for the Chiefs a season ago as someone who will likely take a few more negative runs but also generate plenty of big plays.

Last season, Walker finished sixth in the NFL with 33 runs of 10 or more yards. Hunt and Pacheco were near the bottom of the league with just 10 each.

Despite that, it still might be tough sledding for Walker on Monday night against a Broncos defense that finished last season seventh in EPA per rush allowed. Against a Chiefs receiving core that still doesn’t have any downfield threats, Joseph will be able to commit more bodies to defend the run, which could spell bad news for Walker and the Kansas City running game.

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