2026 Offseason Preview: Kansas City

Kansas City's dynasty looks to bounce back after failed 2025 campaign

statbutler.com will be compiling offseason previews for all 32 teams in the lead up to free agency. Feel free to share any of the text/visuals below with attribution. All underlying contract data was collected by overthecap.com.

Recent Team History

Calling 2025 a shock would be putting it mildly. After 9 consecutive AFC West championships, 7 consecutive trips to the AFC title game, and 5 trips to the Super Bowl in 6 seasons, Kansas City failed to make the postseason for the first time since 2014. To add insult to injury, Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL mere minutes before the team was eliminated from playoff contention. As we can see above, this was a squad that was better than their record indicated, but a dynasty that has been due for a some rocky times.

2025 Season

Kansas City got off to a solid start, entering November with a record of 5-3. Things would soon fall apart as they transitioned to a more difficult stretch of their schedule. Over their final nine games, KC covered the spread just one time, a seven point loss on Christmas Day, quarterbacked by Chris Oladokun.

A Familiar Face as OC

Matt Nagy’s second stint as offensive coordinator closed with the expiration of his contract. Now, Eric Bieniemy will try his hand with a second stint at that post. Andy Reid will turn 68 next month and will remain the coach for at least one more season. It feels to me that we’re inching closer to bigger changes.

Returning Players

Note that all restructures below are assumed to be max restructures. This means that the team will use void years to prorate cash across up to five seasons, minimizing amount that will hit the current year’s salary cap.

For players who are not vested veterans, I’ve replaced information about the player’s active contract with a description of the team control remaining until the player can become an unrestricted free agent.

The returning offense has some considerable holes. Kansas City did not boast a strong group of pass-catchers last year and they’ll be even worse off in 2026 unless they can add some talent. K.C. entered the season with three potential starters at offensive tackle when they signed Jaylon Moore and spent a first round pick on Josh Simmons with Jawaan Taylor returning as a 2024 starter. At least one of those players is likely to go and I expect it will be Taylor. The interior offensive line should be the strength of the offense with back-to-back All-Pro Creed Humphrey, recently extended Trey Smith, and 2024 second round pick Kingsley Suamataia.

Star defensive lineman Chris Jones remains one of the highest paid non-QBs in football with $35m set to be earned in 2026, but he’s coming off a down year. He’ll have a little guaranteed money next year, so he’s already profiling as a potential cap casualty at this time next year. The back half of the defense had a number of reliable contributors, although they won’t get all of them back without working out some new deals. This is a solid defense that is going to want to shore up the pass rush in free agency or the draft.

Expiring Contracts

K.C. is looking at an extensive list of expiring contracts. Future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce tops the list, heading into a season where he will turn 37. Kelce is still a very good player. There are a variety of realistic possibilities for what his 2026 holds. Kansas City will also be losing both of their top running backs to free agency in Isiah Pacheco & Kareem Hunt. On defense, DBs Bryan Cook and Jaylen Watson should have plenty of potential suitors. Linebacker Leo Chenal has been a solid contributor throughout his rookie contract. He might head to a team that can give him more of a full-time role. Kansas City has netted at least one comp pick in six straight drafts. Even with a weakening roster, they’re shaping up to keep that streak going.

Projected Cuts

I’m expecting three cuts for Kansas City this offseason. As I mentioned above, Jawaan Taylor looks like the odd man out at tackle. I’m anticipating two more cuts on defense. The first for edge rusher Mike Danna and the other for corner Kristian Fulton. Fulton is a rare case where he’s looking at a cut while still being owed guaranteed money in 2026. This past season, Fulton played just 29 defensive snaps in the first 15 weeks. He played a larger role in the final three contests after Kansas City was knocked out the playoffs. His remaining $5m just isn’t worth it if he isn’t due to get significant playing time.

The Salary Cap

In the image below, each blue bordered rectangle is equivalent to the cap hit of a single player. Within that rectangle, there are more rectangles that break down the player’s cap hit. Areas colored green can be pushed entirely into a future cap years via max restructure. Areas with vertical bars are “locked in” and the team cannot open them up by releasing the player. They represent either fully guaranteed cash that hasn’t been earned yet or remaining proration from cash earned in previous league years.

Kansas City is currently over the 2026 cap. Patrick Mahomes has already been restructured, but he won’t be the last player to get that treatment. They’ll have plenty of options with multiple players having fully guaranteed salaries.

With the assumptions above, I have Kansas City currently planning to spend $286m in 2026 (7th) before free agency or extensions. Even with big question marks at the skill positions and facing a bit of turnover on defense, the club will need to be prudent with spending. For the first time in over a decade, I have real questions about where this franchise is heading.

Draft Capital

Kansas City holds their own selections in the first five rounds plus they should be expecting to receive a comp pick. Their first pick in the draft will be at the 9th overall pick.