# Patrick Mahomes on Rehabbing His ACL, His Favorite 'Iceman' Track, and the Teammate He Wants to Vacation With

**By:** Cam Wolf  
**Published:** 2026-06-29T14:40:55.897-04:00  
**Source:** [GQ](https://www.gq.com/story/patrick-mahomes-hublot-summer-interview)

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Summer looks slightly different for Patrick Mahomes this year. Rather than turning the page after a Super Bowl appearance, the quarterback is rehabbing from the ACL injury he suffered in mid-December amid a down year for his Kansas City Chiefs. The torn ligament not only kept him out for the rest of the season, it also challenged every aspect of his day-to-day life, making it harder to even play with his kids. On Friday night, however, at a ritzy Hublot party in Malibu, Mahomes told me his most pressing issue at the moment was one that every certified Watch Guy has had at one time or another: How do you build the perfect look around your timepiece?
“Growing up, that was something that revolved a lot around shoes,” Mahomes explained, harkening back to the days when there was nothing cooler than matching your Jordans to your tall tee and fitted hat. “And now it’s like, you pick the watch, and how can your shoes match the watch? How can your outfit match the watch?”
 For Friday’s party, which celebrated the release of Hublot’s new Big Bang Summer collection, Mahomes had plenty of excellent inspiration to mine his closet with. The ceramic watches are particularly bold, even by Hublot standards, stacking up shades of mint green, pink, and sky blue like a cartoonishly large ice cream cone. Mahomes deftly matched his undershirt to his watch’s pink accent. “It’s obviously the perfect summer watch,” Mahomes said of the Big Bang on his wrist.
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 Here, Mahomes tells GQ all about his long road back from injury, the teammate he’d most want to go on vacation with, and why he hates hipster ice cream flavors.
GQ: How is the rehab going for you?
Patrick Mahomes: It’s going good. I’m almost seven months out now. It’s a lot of work, but I’ve gotten used to it now. Now it’s just being consistent and doing it every day. And it helps having people that I like who are pushing me to do that. My trainers in the facility, outside of the facility, and then my family supporting me. I’m trying to be ready to go with one, so I can stay on top of it.

I feel like football players recover from ACL injuries so much quicker than guys in the NBA—why is that?
I think part of it is the position you play and how you move. And then NBA players are so much bigger, height-wise—their ligaments are longer and stuff like that. They play so much more on their feet and moving around. Whereas at quarterback, I do have sudden movements and stuff like that, but I control where I’m at. I’m not always running. The timeline is usually 9-to-12 months—the start of the season’s going to be nine. I’m tracking that way right now.
This is your first major injury, though, right?
Yeah, I had turf toe, which is an injury—I was out three months with that. But [this is] the first major injury that’s kept me out for a long time and I’ve missed a lot of games.
How has that been for you?
It sucked during the season and watching the playoffs. And then some of the day-to-day life things I wasn’t able to do with my kids. So that was definitely tough.
The last time we spoke was in September, when you first signed with Hublot. It’s already been almost a year. Do you feel like you’ve evolved in any way as a collector or as an appreciator of watches?
Yeah. What I really appreciate is the boldness and what Hublot does with the watches—just hearing the history and what’s behind the watches and different styles. The boldness and innovativeness is really similar to how I play football, as well.
I’m super excited about the launches that are happening this summer and going into the fall.
Tell me about the Big Bang Summer Ceramic on your wrist. How’d you choose this colorway?
I went with the blue strap. It’s a Big Bang—they’re always creative and push the envelope, and this one just hit my eye immediately.
It’s so cool.
And then after I picked the watch, I had to find the outfit to match it.
What do you look for in a summer watch?
I mean, obviously, you’ve got to have the colors. That’s the main thing. You want it to stand out. You want the watch to be bold. When people see it, you want them asking what it is. And then it [reflects] a mood that you’re in too: It’s summer, let’s have fun. Let’s go out there and enjoy life, be outside. That’s something that I look for in watches, especially in summertime.
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 What’s your favorite summer vacation destination?
I love going to the Bahamas. The place that we go to is great for kids.. I’m a beach guy, but my wife doesn’t love it, so there are nice pools. You get a mixture of it all, but the water’s always great.
When people get eliminated from the playoffs in any sport, there’s that meme: one, two, three, Cancun. Do you think that’s discouraged people from going to Cancun?
No. People are still going around Cancun.
Is that real?
Yeah. I feel like once you’re at the playoffs, everybody feels like they have a chance. But once you get eliminated, you can definitely see that some guys are planning their trips for the offseason. But ever since I’ve been in the NFL, I always tell my wife, “I’m not planning anything until after February.” I even tell my marketing team, “Don’t put a commercial before the end of February, [until after] the Super Bowl.” That’s my mindset.
But do people actually go to Cancun or is that just a meme?
People definitely go to Cancun, Cabo—they’re hitting up a lot of places in Mexico. Some of those trips are planned by some guys before the season’s over.
What’s your favorite way to relax during the summer?
It’s new now. I love going to my kids’ sporting events. It’s been all hands off. I let them just do it. We got tee-ball and soccer, and I’m the dad that’s in the outfield, the sunglasses on, just staying away from it. But it’s been cool to see them explore and figure out what they love and what they do.
What kind of dad are you when playing with them? Do you let your kids win?
No. I mean, there are certain times you can let them win certain things, but I want them to be competitive. And I’m competitive and their mom’s competitive.
Which certain times? Like if you’re playing Chutes and Ladders?
Yeah, 100%. I don’t let them win all the time. Sometimes when we play board games and stuff like that. Or when I’m playing my daughter one-on-one in soccer, I’ll score some goals, but I’ll let her score some too.
Do you have a great memory of a summer camp that you went to? Were you always in baseball or football camps?
I was always in sports camps. My favorite was this basketball camp at my high school. My mom would just put me in with the kids my age, and then the kids older than me, so I’d be there all day while she was working. There was one game, I had a full-court shot at the end of a tie game—and that’s my best memory of hitting a big shot, even if it’s just a camp.
What position did you play in basketball?
I was a point guard. In high school, I was taller than most guys, but I still played point guard because you get to pass the ball, you can score, you do all that type of stuff. I was tall in eighth grade, so I originally thought I was going to be a basketball player, but that didn’t work out for me. My brother got all the height.
You thought you were going to do basketball, and then you went to baseball, and then football?
Yeah, but basketball first, because I was tall in eighth grade and could dunk. Then it was baseball, because I threw hard. And then football was the last love for me.
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 What’s your song in the summer?
That’s a good question. I mean, it’s hard not to listen to the new Drake albums. There are a couple songs on each one of them that I like.
“Shabang” or “Janice STFU”?
“Janice” off of Iceman. I like “Plot Twist” a lot. And then “Road Trips,” I can’t remember which album it’s on. I like it a lot. That’s more of a summer vibe. They’re great albums. I respect music, great music, and those albums are crushing it.
I love “Janice,” but every time he says, " Blow on me like some green tea," it takes me a little bit out of the vibe. I need to lock back in.
It really is hard.
Favorite ice cream flavor?
I’m a cookies and cream guy. That’s me stepping out—I’m either vanilla or cookies and cream. If I do anything else, I can only eat a couple of bites of it before it’s too sweet for me. In all desserts, I’m cookies, brownies, vanilla, and cookies and cream ice cream. That’s all I eat.
I’m against the wave of over-the-top ice cream where it’s lavender, honey, whatever. I just want to keep it simple.
The other day, when we were on vacation, my wife tried to get me a hazelnut cookies and cream ice cream. I took one bite and went, There ’ s no way you thought I wasn ’ t going to know what this was.
If you’re at a cookout, do you have a favorite food?
I mean, I love mac n’ cheese, that’s my favorite side. but you can’t beat a great hamburger. You get someone good on the grill, they’re just cooking cheeseburgers and stuff like that. It’s hard to beat that on the 4th of July. So probably that, but I love mac and cheese and all the sides. Especially in Kansas City, man, with the barbecue going on. They have so many different sides I’ve never even heard of. They got a lot of great ones.

That’s funny. What’s the one that you had never heard of before that you now love?
They have a lot of cheese in everything. So you get this cheesy cream corn, and it’s delicious. I didn’t know that was a thing. I thought it was just corn on the cob. I know it’s not good for me, but it’s delicious. And then they find a way to throw everything in beans. It’s not just regular beans. You’ll have a full-on rib in your beans and stuff like that. So Kansas City, it tests you. It makes you watch what you eat a little bit, because you can get some good food that adds up quickly for the season.
Who on your team would you most want to go on summer vacation with?
Obviously, the easy answer is Travis [Kelce]. But now that he’s getting a little older, I’m going to go with one of the young guys. Xavier Worthy, he’s always having a good time. He golfs now, and I golf a lot. And my kids love seeing him because he’s fast—they like watching him play.
What’s the worst thing about summer?
The worst thing about summer is that there’s no football. That’s easy enough.