The Denver Broncos are just 11 days away from facing off against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. Despite Mahomes coming off a major, multi-ligament knee injury from last year, the Broncos aren’t falling into the trap of overlooking the NFL’s longstanding boogeyman.
Denver Broncos preparing for Patrick Mahomes best on MNF
When you’re preparing to face the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, it’s fair to wonder about how he’ll look in his first game action back from last year’s major knee injury that ended his season down the stretch, but if you think the Broncos are overlooking them, you’re mistaken.
“You’ve seen enough things where you know he’s going to be 100%. And we’re preparing for him, you know, his best. We know how talented he is, and I’m sure he’s attacked the rehab the way Bo has — completely different injuries, but that’s kind of our approach to it.”
The Broncos won the AFC West last season, which was an important goal for them, and they didn’t shy away from the challenge any time they’ve played Mahomes since Sean Payton has taken over. Now, with the Broncos coming into 2026 eager to defend their AFC West crown, they understand that they’re being hunted in a very competitive division.
That’s why so much of Denver’s process is maintaining more of an internal focus on themselves, analyzing where they are growing or taking steps back, and identifying their own tendencies to know how opposing teams plan to play them. While there is a focus on the opponent each week, the Broncos believe in self-scouting themselves too.
This week’s vibe at practice has felt like being in the eye of the storm, and that’s solely my observation. There’s a calmness amidst the chaos that is the start of the actual regular season. Next week, that’s when the rain and mud come. 12 days out from Kansas City, it’s easy for teams to look ahead, but it’s been a gradual buildup towards their actual game prep for the Chiefs.
Payton said this week, the practice theme for them has been 50% best on best amongst themselves, and the other 50% beginning to focus on some things related to Chiefs prep.
Marvin Mims gets work in on the side field
For the first two days of practice, we did not spot Marvin Mims on the field after he had suffered a bone bruise on his foot in Friday’s final preseason game.
That presented an initial concern, but turned into good news on Wednesday because Mims was on the side field during Wednesday’s practice going through rehab and conditioning.
Joining him was veteran tight end Adam Trautman, who missed Tuesday’s practice.
Veteran linebacker Alex Singleton was back at practice as a full participant after he missed Tuesday’s practice.
Outside linebacker Que Robinson, who had been on the side field for most of this week, returned to team stretch and individual drills before ultimately heading and working on the side field.
The Denver Broncos will be back at practice next Monday as regular season mode begins.