Doctor says video of Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes at Big 12 tourney is encouraging
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mahomes fully weightbearing and not using an aid but limps slightly at 3 months.
- Surgeon says a slight limp and some stiffness at 3 months are not unheard of.
- Expert theorizes ACL likely used autograft (patient tissue), but not confirmed.
For the most part, all eyes were on the players and/or the court during the Big 12 men’s tournament last week.
But a few people on the sideline drew attention, too. Chiefs coach Andy Reid was at the T-Mobile Center a couple of times to watch BYU. And quarterback Patrick Mahomes walked to his seat courtside at a game.
Mahomes had surgery to repair a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee in mid-December, so many fans were encouraged to see him walking easily.
So was Yair Kissin, who is a board-certified surgeon who specializes in sports medicine and knee conditions.
“In the video Mahomes appears to be limping a little, which is not unheard of at 3 months postop,” Kissin wrote in a message to The Star. “He’s not using a walking aid which is great to see and he’s fully weightbearing.
“He’s a little stiff when he sat down but that’s only because we are looking at him through a lens of recovery. We all sit down like that sometimes. I don’t see anything unusual.”
Kissin, a vice chair of orthopedics at the Hackensack University Medical Center, theorized about Mahomes’ procedure.
“He likely had ACL surgery using his own tissue, rather than a cadaver graft taken from the patella and patellar tendon, but that is not confirmed,” Kissin wrote. “This type of procedure would be a little more painful in the first few months than if he had a different graft, but that’s the best choice for NFL players in general.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2026 at 10:07 AM.
