A New Era for the Kansas City Chiefs

For the first time in seven years, the Kansas City Chiefs will not be playing on conference championship Sunday. This past season was a tough one for both the 6-11 Chiefs and their fans, but every failure presents an opportunity to rise again. The Chiefs are now facing their biggest offseason in recent memory, with significant changes already underway.

Head coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach are working to reshape the coaching staff, which had been a point of concern. One notable change is the replacement of wide receivers coach Connor Embree with Chad O’Shea, a more experienced and respected figure. Eric Bieniemy has also returned as the new offensive coordinator, taking over from Matt Nagy, while the team continues to search for a new running backs coach after firing Todd Pinkston.

These changes are unusual for Reid, who typically promotes from within. However, these out-of-the-ordinary moves signal that major roster retooling is on the horizon for the Chiefs.

Major Decisions for the Offseason

Every year, teams must comply with the NFL’s salary cap, which is set at roughly $304 million this upcoming season. The Chiefs currently sit $55 million over the cap, forcing Veach to make difficult decisions. Here are some key moves to free up money:

• Cut RT Jawaan Taylor (saves $20M)
• Cut DE Mike Danna (saves $9M)
• Cut LB Drue Tranquill (saves $6M)
• Restructure the contracts of RG Trey Smith and C Creed Humphrey (saves $10M)
• Restructure the contract of QB Patrick Mahomes (saves $15-$45M plus adding one void year)

The trio of Taylor, Danna, and Tranquill will likely be let go, as all three are in the last year of their contracts and have shown a decline in performance. Restructuring the contracts of Smith and Humphrey will free up another $10 million, without significantly increasing future cap costs. Mahomes’ contract allows the Chiefs to move money around and push high cap costs into the future.

Notable Free Agents

The Chiefs have 29 free agents set to test the open market. While I wouldn’t bring back a large portion of them, there are a few players worth considering:

• P Matt Araiza (1yr/$985k)
• WR Hollywood Brown (1yr/$6M)
• LB Leo Chenal (3yr/$15M)
• S Bryan Cook (3yr/$33M)
• RB Kareem Hunt (1yr/$2M)
• TE Travis Kelce (1yr/$10M w/2 void years)
• QB Gardner Minshew (1yr/$3M)
• RB Isiah Pacheco (2yr/$10M)
• WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (1yr/$1.5M)
• WR Tyquan Thornton (2yr/$6M)
• CB Jaylen Watson (3yr/$40M)

If the Chiefs believe Mahomes will miss the first month of the season due to a torn ACL, Minshew might be sufficient to keep the team afloat until his return. Punter Matt Araiza, who was the lone bright spot on special teams in 2025, won’t be costly. The Chiefs should look to both free agency and the draft to reshape the RB room, as Hunt and Pacheco’s best years may be behind them.

Trent McDuffie Trade Getting More Likely

After all these moves, the Chiefs will have about 40 players under contract, along with roughly $30M to spend in free agency. This leaves many positions open for improvement. The best way for the Chiefs to build a solid roster is through hitting on this year’s draft picks, of which Veach has six to work with.

There have been murmurs of a McDuffie trade, as his situation is unique. If the Chiefs decide to trade him, they could get a late-first or early-second round pick alongside another mid-round selection. Alternatively, they could extend McDuffie, which would be expensive given his size and lack of elite ball skills.

Trading McDuffie would free up future years of money, allowing the team to sign multiple free agents and have more options in the draft.

Filling Out the Rest of the Roster

With freed-up money and extra draft picks, the Chiefs are in a better position financially to be aggressive in free agency and the draft. They now have eight draft picks, with half of them within the top 75 picks. Major positions of need include multiple difference makers along a defensive line and skill and speed at both running back and wide receiver.

Draft Picks (courtesy of McDuffie trade)

• 1st round: No. 9
• 1st round: No. 29*
• 2nd round: No. 40
• 3rd round: No. 74
• 4th round: No. 109
• 4th round: No. 135*
• 5th round: No. 146
• 5th round: No. 176

While these projections are speculative, the decisions made this offseason will shape how many Super Bowls the Chiefs can compete for in the next three to five years.