Patrick Mahomes & Micah Parsons Are Being Asked To Sit Out The Entire 2026 NFL Season [VIDEO]
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
A former NFL star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner thinks Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons should sit out the entire 2026 season.
In Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers, Patrick Mahomes suffered an ACL tear that ended his season. Minutes later, the Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention with a 16-13 loss.
Just hours after Mahomes’ injury, Green Bay Packers All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons suffered the same fate in their Week 15 loss to the Denver Broncos. Parsons (12.5 sacks in 14 games) needed just two more sacks to set a new career-high.
During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show” (via Alex Byington of On3.com), former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III pleaded for Mahomes and Kelce to prioritize their long-term health and sit out the 2026 season.
“The No. 1 advice I’d give to Micah Parsons and Patrick Mahomes right now is to not play next year. And it’s because of when they got hurt. They both got hurt in December. You look at these injuries and we’ve seen guys come back in six months, eight months and nine months.
And it’d be nine months if they were ready to go Week 1. But you don’t really feel like yourself until about 15 months after the injury, and some guys will even tell you it took me 24 months to truly feel like myself again…
I look at it from this standpoint from my own experiences, and these guys aren’t me. But I torn my ACL and LCL – the same injury that Patrick Mahomes has right now – and I wouldn’t have played in 2013…Because I wasn’t back to myself yet…I would advise them to not play next year so that when they come back in ’27, they can truly and fully be themselves, and it won’t knock off years from their careers.”
Unfortunately, Griffin knows all too well about how much one bad injury can ruin a career. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 after leading Washington to a surprise 10-win season and NFC East division crown.
But Washington’s coaches and medical staff showed total disregard for Griffin’s lingering knee injury. The knee issue worsened in their Wild Card Round loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and Griffin was never the same player again.
Injuries To Patrick Mahomes & Micah Parsons Alter The 2025 NFL Landscape
If Mahomes didn’t suffer that gruesome knee injury? Perhaps he leads the Chiefs to victory, keeping their postseason hopes alive. Also, a Chargers loss would have drastically shaken up the AFC playoff picture.
But the Chiefs won’t be in the playoffs this year. And instead of potentially playing spoiler against the AFC-leading Denver Broncos in Week 17? Most likely, the Broncos will cruise to an easy win.
Parsons was the MVP of the Green Bay defense. And there was a case to be made that the Packers, not the Rams, were the team to beat in the NFC. But with Parsons gone, Green Bay might not even be the best team in the NFC North.
