NFL: Kansas City Chiefs Thread

[CYdTracked]

The Chiefs are definitely at a crossroads this offseason. I would assume with Mahomes likely being out for at least half of 2026 now that just make Kelce's retirement decision easier. Also have to wonder if Reid has it in him to go through a rebuild/retool even if it's just a possible lost season in 2026. Will likely have to go out and sign a veteran QB on a 1 year day to hold down the fort while Mahomes rehabs. They won't waste a draft pick on one so how competitive can you be with someone like Minshew? There aren't a lot of enticing options set to be free agents that fall into the category as a cheap stop gap veteran either.

They probably will finally cut Taylor and if Kelce retires that opens up some cap space savings between the 2. Next question is are there high-priced guys on the roster you consider trading to get some draft picks and cap space to bring in some more talent and depth at positions of need? Jones would bring in the biggest cap savings and McDuffie would probably net a good haul of picks and is set to be a free agent in 2027. Probably some others they could cut or move for some savings to retool the roster but those 2 would bring the biggest returns I think.

Chiefs have been doing what the Pats had to do which was build through the draft and fill in other needs in the margins with trades or signings in order to pay their start players. They've been doing that pretty well up to this point but something is obviously broke now. If Reid comes back next year he's gotta change some of his offensive staff such as replacing Nagy. Also will have to re-invent what kind of team we are without Mahomes for a while so may have to improve the running game and add some new wrinkles to the offense.

 

[Dandy]

Reason the multi-year stretch (not dynasty) was successful:
High rate of draft pick success and choosing not to pay high dollar for certain players

Reason the multi-year stretch has ended:
Whiffs on draft picks and paying high dollar for certain players

Veach hasn't built a great team the last couple years and has a really poor salary cap situation to work with this offseason.

 

[houjix]

It might be a blessing in disguise, getting knocked out early gives KC a better draft slot this spring, Mahomes is a year younger than Brady when he had his ACL, he will be fine and so will the Chiefs. Just need to do a little reload and start winning again.

Depending on Mahomes' recovery timeline, this might be an opportunity to get a complete financial reset next year. Still have to make cuts like Taylor just to get under the cap, but now they can just suffer through the big cap hits of Jones and Mahomes without altering their deals any further if they are looking at a lost season next year.. Mahomes is probably past peak money when they finally completely rework his contract and now has an injury history. That should help with long term cap management.

 

[Dandy]

Reason the multi-year stretch (not dynasty) was successful:
High rate of draft pick success and choosing not to pay high dollar for certain players

Reason the multi-year stretch has ended:
Whiffs on draft picks and paying high dollar for certain players

Veach hasn't built a great team the last couple years and has a really poor salary cap situation to work with this offseason.

Good:
Trading Tyreek Hill and L'Jarius Sneed.
Hitting on Bolton, Humphrey, McDuffie, Karlaftis, Cook, Rice, maybe Worthy. TBD on Simmons.

Bad:
Paying Jawaan Taylor, Trey Smith, Harrison Butker, Jaylon Moore.
Carrying 2026 cap hits of $78M Mahomes and $45M Jones.
Whiffing on Anudike-Uzomah, Suamataia, and Norman-Lott. TBD on Simmons.

 

[zarnold56]

Good:
Trading Tyreek Hill and L'Jarius Sneed.
Hitting on Bolton, Humphrey, McDuffie, Karlaftis, Cook, Rice, maybe Worthy. TBD on Simmons.

Bad:
Paying Jawaan Taylor, Trey Smith, Harrison Butker, Jaylon Moore.
Carrying 2026 cap hits of $78M Mahomes and $45M Jones.
Whiffing on Anudike-Uzomah, Suamataia, and Norman-Lott. TBD on Simmons.

How are these guys whiffs? Suamatia has been great at guard this year. He was project at tackle, but has settled nicely at guard. ONL was looking good before the injury. FAU was a for sure whiff. Simmons looks to be great. That wrist injust was a freak one.

 

[houjix]

Good:
Trading Tyreek Hill and L'Jarius Sneed.
Hitting on Bolton, Humphrey, McDuffie, Karlaftis, Cook, Rice, maybe Worthy. TBD on Simmons.

Bad:
Paying Jawaan Taylor, Trey Smith, Harrison Butker, Jaylon Moore.
Carrying 2026 cap hits of $78M Mahomes and $45M Jones.
Whiffing on Anudike-Uzomah, Suamataia, and Norman-Lott. TBD on Simmons.

Not ready to call Suamatia a whiff yet. If he ends up being a long-term solution at left guard, that's more than reasonable for a late second round pick. If Simmons works out at LT, it's only going to look like a minor hiccup. ONL showed some stuff, but they messed up trying to get him to bulk up and then reversing course.

 

[dafarmer]

Da Bears are still alive!!

 

[Dandy]

How are these guys whiffs? Suamatia has been great at guard this year. He was project at tackle, but has settled nicely at guard. ONL was looking good before the injury. FAU was a for sure whiff. Simmons looks to be great. That wrist injust was a freak one.

Suamatia is a TBD then. He was drafted to be a tackle. Lucky from him we traded Thuney otherwise it would've been a wasted pick.

ONL and Simmons hurt the team this year. Can't have 5 and 8 games played on your first two picks.

 

[cycfan1]

Honestly I dont think the roster makeup was all that poor this year. Certainly going to be issues trying to keep a team together and thats why only one team has ever had this much sustained success in the last 30 years.

Teams obviously have devalued RB a fair bit last 10 years, but Chiefs completely ignored at multiple times this year. Honestly just a back that had the potential to rip off a 20 yard run would have done wonders for this offense. Maybe not Breece specifically, but that position just had zero firepower this year.

Playcalling was poor most of the year. Mahomes got out of his normal short passing game and tried to hit deep balls on third and short countless times (including one big one yesterday). Not above keeping defenses honest, but he consistently tried to do so on 3rd & short.

I'm torn on next year. Don't want to waste years of Mahomes prime by punting on the year. Need a QB that can win few games to start the year. Schedule looks tough again.... bunch of good teams that are going to end at 3rd in their division. Rams playbook on resetting old & expensive roster should be studied.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

CBS sports is saying the recovery time for an ACL for an athlete like Mahomes should be around 8 months. They thought that the Chiefs and Mahomes would try to get the surgery done ASAP to give him more time to recover. They pointed out that Brady was a year older than Mahomes when he had his knee rebuilt and if everything goes well, he should be ready to play at full speed the first couple weeks of the season.

KC needs to move on from Nagy, guy has been horrible for a long time, cut Taylor and decide what to do with McDuffy. Pick up some good players through the draft and figure that the 3rd place schedule will cut them some slack and make it easier.

 

[danelson4]

Some good analysis in these posts.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

Here is the latest Mahomes update, no damage to the other ligaments around the knee, about as good as you could hope. Goes for a 2nd opinion in Dallas by their team surgeon, and hopes to have surgery later this week.

Mahomes avoided major damage to rest of knee

An MRI revealed, that besides his torn ACL, Patrick Mahomes didn't have any major damage to his other ligaments in his left knee.

www.espn.com

 

[deadeyededric]

I think they need more than a little reload, but having Mahomes and that coaching staff is a good start,
Next year is probably a loss though too as Pat is not going to be ready in September (they shouldn't rush it either).

Andy Reid better draw up some new plays because he didn't fool anyone all year. There problems were as much about the playcalling and plays as anything. Everybody they played knew everything that was coming too often. Every route, every block, etc... They aren't gonna have the money to do much in free agency if they don't find someone who wants Chris Jones after June 1st. Jones would be super attractive to a team that already has a great defensive lineman. What Jones can't do anymore is consistently dominate when being doubled and tripled. What he can do is still dominate people one on 1. He's still a top 10 defensive lineman.

 

[deadeyededric]

Good:
Trading Tyreek Hill and L'Jarius Sneed.
Hitting on Bolton, Humphrey, McDuffie, Karlaftis, Cook, Rice, maybe Worthy. TBD on Simmons.

Bad:
Paying Jawaan Taylor, Trey Smith, Harrison Butker, Jaylon Moore.
Carrying 2026 cap hits of $78M Mahomes and $45M Jones.
Whiffing on Anudike-Uzomah, Suamataia, and Norman-Lott. TBD on Simmons.

Simmons needs to be at RT. He could be really good there.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

Andy Reid better draw up some new plays because he didn't fool anyone all year. There problems were as much about the playcalling and plays as anything. Everybody they played knew everything that was coming too often. Every route, every block, etc... They aren't gonna have the money to do much in free agency if they don't find someone who wants Chris Jones after June 1st. Jones would be super attractive to a team that already has a great defensive lineman. What Jones can't do anymore is consistently dominate when being doubled and tripled. What he can do is still dominate people one on 1. He's still a top 10 defensive lineman.

What does the KC defensive line look like without Jones? You want to move Simmons over the right side, so we are needed a top flight D lineman to replace Jones and also a left tackle, the most important position on the line. Oh we can pick up a free agent or two, are they going to be close to the talent level of Jones, nope they are not. You cut Taylor and start Moore at right tackle, you trust that Simmons will be even better next season.

This in not the beginning of the end, this is nothing but the end of the beginning. A line on the field, they will end up with a 3rd place schedule, draft in the top 15 picks. Mahomes surgery will have him back sometime at the start season. They have to address the running back issue, Mahones has lead the team in rushing touchdowns runs of over 10 yards the past five seasons.
Throw in the fact with all the winning KC has played 8 seasons over the past 7 years, a break will allow them to get back, heal up and be better next season. Again this is just the end of the beginning, nothing more.

 

[CYdTracked]

What does the KC defensive line look like without Jones? You want to move Simmons over the right side, so we are needed a top flight D lineman to replace Jones and also a left tackle, the most important position on the line. Oh we can pick up a free agent or two, are they going to be close to the talent level of Jones, nope they are not. You cut Taylor and start Moore at right tackle, you trust that Simmons will be even better next season.

This in not the beginning of the end, this is nothing but the end of the beginning. A line on the field, they will end up with a 3rd place schedule, draft in the top 15 picks. Mahomes surgery will have him back sometime at the start season. They have to address the running back issue, Mahones has lead the team in rushing touchdowns runs of over 10 yards the past five seasons.
Throw in the fact with all the winning KC has played 8 seasons over the past 7 years, a break will allow them to get back, heal up and be better next season. Again this is just the end of the beginning, nothing more.

I agree with let Simmons develop at LT and cut Taylor and let Moore play RT. If it doesn't work out then reset in 2027. As for Jones he eats a big chunk of salary cap but you can't exactly replace him either. Omarr Norman-Lott was supposed to be his partner on the DL before he tore his ACL.

 

[deadeyededric]

What does the KC defensive line look like without Jones? You want to move Simmons over the right side, so we are needed a top flight D lineman to replace Jones and also a left tackle, the most important position on the line. Oh we can pick up a free agent or two, are they going to be close to the talent level of Jones, nope they are not. You cut Taylor and start Moore at right tackle, you trust that Simmons will be even better next season.

This in not the beginning of the end, this is nothing but the end of the beginning. A line on the field, they will end up with a 3rd place schedule, draft in the top 15 picks. Mahomes surgery will have him back sometime at the start season. They have to address the running back issue, Mahones has lead the team in rushing touchdowns runs of over 10 yards the past five seasons.
Throw in the fact with all the winning KC has played 8 seasons over the past 7 years, a break will allow them to get back, heal up and be better next season. Again this is just the end of the beginning, nothing more.

We aren't likely to find anyone who can do what Jones has done/can do next year but the franchise needs rid of his contract so we can move forward. What we could get with what it cost to pay him though is 3-4 young defensive lineman.

 

[LarryISU]

They probably will finally cut Taylor

Wait.... cut Taylor Swift??? Why?!!!!!!

 

[1SEIACLONE]

We aren't likely to find anyone who can do what Jones has done/can do next year but the franchise needs rid of his contract so we can move forward. What we could get with what it cost to pay him though is 3-4 young defensive lineman.

You are not going to get 3 or 4 defensive lineman though through free agency, it will be at most two. Lott should return next season, to provide more help in the middle. Jones has dropped a step, but he is still by far our best defensive lineman, and KC just cannot afford to trade him or cut him and expect to get replacement value back in the draft.
Like any team that has a QB making a large percent of the cap, you have squeeze in other areas to make it work. But you have to have a very good QB to win at a high level or one on still on his rookie contract. The Bengals are going through it now, so are the 49ers.

I watched three or four NFL clips last night talking about the Mahomes injury, and what KC needs to do moving forward. All thought the Oline will be fine, it was just beat up this season with injuries. They need a running back to take the pressure off of Mahomes, for way too long the team has relied on Mahomes being the difference and now he needs more help. They need to get younger and quicker on the back end of the defense, many thought and they need to find a replacement for Kelsey. Both Rice and Worthy took a step back this season because of injuries and the suspension, Thornton looked good when he was given his opportunity, maybe he can develop into the 3rd WR. Get rid of Smith-Schuster, Brown and Remigio none are much help and hope to find a young WR in the draft. Figure out what they are going to do with McDuffy, draft areas of need and they will be find retooling.

 

[houjix]

Mahomes' surgery happened last night and was successful. Apparently some damage to the LCL in addition to the ACL, but not expected to increase the recovery time.

Mahomes has surgery for torn ACL; LCL also repaired, per source

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes underwent successful surgery Monday in Dallas to repair the tear in his left ACL. A league source told ESPN that Mahomes also had a torn LCL that was repaired.

www.espn.com