The NFL schedule release is coming in the next few weeks, and one of the questions hanging over it is one the league would probably rather not have to answer: what do you do with Patrick Mahomes?
Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL on Dec. 14, 2025, and has been rehabbing aggressively ever since. Fox’s Jay Glazer reported in March that Mahomes would be back “by far” before Week 1, and ESPN reported last week that he is on track to participate in the Chiefs’ first OTAs later this month. But “on track for OTAs in May” and “ready for a prime time game in September” are two different things, and the NFL has to build a schedule around a quarterback whose status remains technically uncertain.
North spoke about prior to the NFL Draft on the It’s Always Game Day in Buffalo podcast, admitting that the league wants Mahomes in primetime, but it can’t build its marquee matchups around a quarterback who may or may not be healthy when the season kicks off.
“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. “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.”
That veteran quarterback is Justin Fields, whom the Chiefs acquired from the Jets in March, sending just a 2027 sixth-round pick to get him. And while we know who Fields is at this point, Andy Reid is Andy Reid, and Kansas City’s roster remains one of the better ones in the league. Still, there’s a meaningful difference between Chiefs-Bills with Patrick Mahomes and Chiefs-Bills without him, and the NFL knows this.
“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.”
Chiefs owner Clark Hunt cast doubt last month on Kansas City appearing in Seattle for the season opener, saying “I don’t think that’s on the table anymore for us” and suggesting the league wouldn’t want to take the risk of building its biggest night around a quarterback whose availability was still unclear. North’s comments suggest the same logic applies to any high-profile early-season matchup for the Chiefs.
The thing is, the NFL can’t simply push all of its Chiefs’ prime time inventory to the back half of the season. Kansas City figures to appear nationally 10 or more times between primetime games and late-window afternoon games, and the league learned last year what happens when you save all of it for December.
“We still had that Chiefs-Broncos game on Christmas after Mahomes got hurt and the team was eliminated from playoff contention,” North said. “So I’d hate to save all the Chiefs’ prime time appearances for the end of the season. There’s going to have to be something early.”
The most likely outcome, based on North’s comments, is that the Chiefs get something meaningful in the first few weeks without necessarily banking a marquee matchup on Mahomes being available for Week 1.
“Maybe not Bills-Chiefs Week 1,” North said, “but never say never.”
The schedule release is expected sometime in the next two to three weeks.
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