- The Chiefs have an extensive list of offseason concerns after being eliminated from the playoff race.
- Reworking Patrick Mahomes’ contract and finding a suitable fill-in should be atop the priorities for Kansas City after the quarterback suffered a torn ACL.
- Kansas City also will be under pressure to find a successor to Travis Kelce and reconfigure an ineffective rushing attack.
“Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead.”
It’s a jingle the fine people of Kansas (and Missouri) are quite familiar with. And maybe it’s a touch apropos now that a Kansas City Chiefs season has died short of the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, though that’s likely not exactly an unwelcome development for the legions of hardcore and casual NFL fans that have developed K.C. fatigue over the past decade.
But let’s be clear, there’s no body to bury here. Not yet.
These Chiefs remain a living, breathing dynasty, one that’s won three Lombardi Trophies and appeared in five Super Bowls since the start of the 2019 campaign. This postseason will mark the first since 2017’s that Kansas City is absent from the AFC championship game. An organization that has already shown the ability to reimagine itself on the fly can’t and shouldn’t be discounted simply based on one disappointing chapter.
“Every year is a journey. Success is rented every year. Every year you get to rent success, and sometimes it doesn’t go the way you plan for it to go,” All-Pro DT Chris Jones said after Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the defeat that officially staked the Chiefs.
“I think we learned a lot this year and we understand the fact that in order to be successful, it’s an everyday thing. It’s not one week you put in and next week, no. It’s a consistent thing and we have a lot of guys coming back and they know that it’s rented every year. Just because last year’s team made the Super Bowl, that doesn’t guarantee success.
“(W)e’re going to keep on going. Something to build off of and looking forward to next year.”
Right on.
That being said, as they would after any season – but especially so while being armed with unfamiliar (and welcome, in its own way) extra time in the coming months – the Kansas City brain trust of head coach Andy Reid, GM Brett Veach and even owner Clark Hunt will have to take a close look at the overarching operation as they assess their next moves going into 2026.
Here are seven steps the Chiefs should take if they want to restore themselves to championship relevance a year from now:
1. Address Patrick Mahomes’ contract
The three-time Super Bowl MVP’s pact – the famous 10-year, $450 million extension he signed in 2020 – runs through the 2031 season. But he’s due for an adjustment. Mahomes doesn’t make a stink about his paychecks but it is notable that his average annual salary ($45 million) is now tied for 14th (with Kirk Cousins) among NFL quarterbacks.
Moving forward, a restructure is needed not only to compensate Mahomes fairly but because his deal is about to affect the team’s ability to maneuver at large. His base salary balloons to more than $45 million in both 2026 and 2027 – it was $1.3 million in 2025 – and his salary cap hit will exceed $74 million in each of the next two years. In a word: untenable. That’s especially true given the team is overspent by nearly $44 million next year, per Over The Cap.
History suggests the parties will find a happy medium that rewards Mahomes but also allows Veach and Reid to maintain the competitive roster he demands.
2. Find the right backup quarterback
It probably wouldn’t shock anyone if Mahomes is behind center on opening day of the 2026 season. But in case you missed it, he did suffer a torn ACL at the end of Sunday’s loss to the Bolts and consequently – once surgery is performed – Mahomes is going to be rehabbing the joint pretty much right up to Week 1 next year, if not beyond. And the Chiefs need to operate as if he won’t be ready, to say nothing of the fact that they need someone trustworthy to take the bulk of the first-string snaps in the offseason.
The next three weeks should be a nice sample size to see if current QB2 Gardner Minshew II, something of a diet Mahomes (very low-calorie) given his ability to capture a locker room and sling it on the field, is the right fit. Barring that, Carson Wentz, who backed up Mahomes in 2024, could be an option. Blaine Gabbert, who held the job in 2023, hasn’t played since. Other potential fill-in alternatives scheduled to be on the free agent market include Teddy Bridgewater, Joe Flacco, Jimmy Garoppolo, Marcus Mariota, Kenny Pickett, Tyrod Taylor and Russell Wilson.
3. Target a replacement for Travis Kelce
This doesn’t necessarily mean a divorce from Kelce, who’s generally been more consistent and productive than he was in 2024 – and he was a Pro Bowler then despite his statistical dip. But these are the facts: He’d be 37 next season, his contract is about to expire, he’s set to marry pop superstar Taylor Swift and enter into a new phase of life, and it’s not clear whether or not he’s ready to retire anyway – though he did reference playing next year during the Chiefs’ spring workouts.
Regardless, it’s time to lay the groundwork for a successor − particularly considering how reliant Mahomes has historically been on his tight end. Backup Noah Gray, 26, has made an impact in previous seasons but has been used sparingly in the pass game this year. Ohio State’s Max Klare or Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq could be compelling options at draft time, but neither would come cheaply. There will likely also be free agents worthy of close consideration – Kyle Pitts, David Njoku, Cade Otton and Isaiah Likely among them – and none might cost the $17.1 million Kelce has averaged on his current deal … though gifted Pitts’ market could potentially take off after the performance he just put on display.
Kelce is close with Mahomes, and his teammates have long raved about his work ethic and personality. But even if Kelce and the team decide they want to make one more Lombardi run together in 2026, the returns from a fading star had already begun diminishing.
4. Upgrade at running back
The Chiefs have generally been middling at best on the ground during their dynastic era, and that tends to track with Reid’s historic approach to running the ball. They currently rank 20th in the league with 113.9 rushing yards per game – yet Mahomes’ career-high 422 in 2025 is a significant component. Unideal.
It might have been an overdue move anyway, but given Mahomes will be coming back from the knee injury, this seems like the right time to invest more in the backfield. That doesn’t mean Reid has to use a first-round pick on the next Jamaal Charles. Yet his best backs with the Philadelphia Eagles, Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy, didn’t require a Round 1 expenditure – but certainly proved worthy of the third- and second-rounders spent on them, respectively. Barring that, it could make sense to target a multi-purpose back like Breece Hall or Travis Etienne in free agency as either could not only reduce the load on Mahomes in the short term but could elevate this offense as a whole over a longer period. But biding time with the likes of Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, who are unsigned beyond this season anyway, doesn’t seem viable.
5. Tweak the offensive line
Mahomes has been sacked 70 times over the past two seasons – not including a career-high six in Kansas City’s Super Bowl 59 loss to Philadelphia – and would likely have set a new career high for a season in 2025 if he was available for the final three weeks. And, to be sure, his propensity to extend plays contributes on that front.
Injuries have plagued Kansas City’s front five this year and, by extension, Mahomes and the offense at large. C Creed Humphrey and Gs Trey Smith and Kingsley Suamataia are probably the league’s premier interior trio when they’re all on the field together … but they haven’t been in recent weeks due to Smith’s bum ankle. Rookie LT Josh Simmons got rave reviews this year, but a wrist injury plus a family matter disrupted his season. The first-rounder should be fine moving forward.
But it’s time to move on from RT Jawaan Taylor. He’s too inconsistent, incurs too many penalties and isn’t worth another $19.5 million next season, when he won’t have any guarantees on the final year of his contract. Better to turn that job over to Jaylon Moore and find better overall depth on the market and in the draft.
6. Reassess the defense
Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s crew remains a top-10 unit and has allowed the fifth-fewest points (19.1) per game this season. But it might be time to re-examine things for the greater good. The Chiefs can’t realistically replicate their 2022 trade of WR Tyreek Hill, a maneuver that reshaped the organization and widened the championship window given the draft assets he returned from the Miami Dolphins. But it could be time to consider offloading players like Jones and/or Trent McDuffie in a renewed bid at maintaining this organization at or near the top of the league’s food chain.
Jones, 31, didn’t play well early on this season but has reclaimed his Pro Bowl form lately. Elite interior disruptors are hard to come by, and he might be the missing piece for a team like the Detroit Lions or New England Patriots, for example. And this might be the point to offer him a fresh start with a strong squad while divesting the final three seasons of his five-year, $159 million deal.
McDuffie, 25, is set to earn $13.6 million in 2026, the final season on the rookie deal of a player drafted in the aftermath of Hill’s departure. There’s certainly a solid case to keep one of the league’s best and most versatile defensive backs. But given his age, ability and contractual control (at present), McDuffie is the kind of chip that could elicit a valuable return – likely more than what Jones would fetch.
Spagnuolo’s D already faces key offseason decisions. But every good team has to make choices, and − given his tactical abilities − it seems to make more sense to make concessions here given what the offense is facing.
7. Take a cultural checkup
This isn’t to suggest that the Chiefs are going off the rails or have suddenly become complacent. Tom Brady tore his ACL in the 2008 opener – against Kansas City ironically – in the first game after the Patriots’ 16-0 regular season in 2007. He returned the next year, but the team also transformed around him and didn’t win another Super Bowl until the end of the 2014 season – ending a 10-year Lombardi drought while also sparking the second half of the two-decade Patriot reign.
Next season would be Reid’s 14th in Kansas City, matching the number of years he coached in Philadelphia. Ten years often marks the expiration date for many coaches and their messages. But Reid, 67, is beloved by his players, loves a challenge and has shown no signs of wanting to wind his career down. And Mahomes is the rare luxury who’s a coaching extension on the field, a fierce competitor who pulls his teammates up to his level, and an unselfish player committed to literally sharing the wealth in order to have a topflight roster around him.
“(Y)ou’ve got to stay ahead of the game as a coach. And that’s every offseason. That’s the challenge,’ Reid said Monday.
There will be turnover in Kansas City. Players like WR Hollywood Brown, S Bryan Cook, CB Jaylen Watson and maybe even Kelce – all of them pending free agents – could exit. OC Matt Nagy might get a second shot as a head coach. Change is a constant in the NFL.
But this franchise has been run as well as any in league history. Maybe the Chiefs can’t simply click their ruby and gold slippers and return to the Super Bowl. But the guys behind the curtain − and in front of it − shouldn’t suddenly require a sweeping overhaul to make this team great and powerful once again.