Chiefs face uncertain future after Patrick Mahomes' ACL tear: What's next for Kansas City's offense
Big questions loom for Andy Reid's 2026 team
By
Jared Dubin
•
12 min read
The competitive portion of the Kansas City Chiefs' season is over. That was perhaps true even before Patrick Mahomes went down with a torn ACL during the final drive of their Week 15 loss to the division-rival Los Angeles Chargers (the Chiefs would have needed a field goal to tie the game or a touchdown to win it and keep their playoff hopes alive, and they didn't have much time left), but Mahomes' injury obviously drove the final nail into the Chiefs' coffin.
There have been and will be plenty post-mortem articles on what went wrong for the Chiefs this season. The offense largely struggled outside of a 5-to-6 week stretch in the middle of the season with plenty of blame to go around from Mahomes himself to Andy Reid to the offensive line and the skill-position corps. The defense never rounded into elite form like it had down the stretch of some other seasons under Steve Spagnuolo. And unlike in previous years, the Chiefs couldn't make up for their flaws by winning consistently in close games.
With the book on this season now mostly closed, it's worth taking a look at some of the big-picture issues that the Chiefs will face this offseason as they prepare for 2026. Because Mahomes is the centerpiece of the offense, we're going to focus on that side of the ball -- except for in the salary cap section, where some defensive players' contract situations can obviously have a knock-on effect on what happens with the offense.
The Mahomes injury and scheme effects
The Chiefs are going to prepare for Mahomes to return in time for Week 1 of the 2026 season, CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones reported. Mahomes is almost certainly going to attack his rehabilitation with a maniacal fervor, and it wouldn't necessarily be surprising if he were indeed ready for the start of the year.
If he is ready to play, he's also almost certainly not going to be the same player we've seen through the first eight years of his career. Specifically, his ability to move around inside and outside the pocket to create plays with second and even third reactions is likely to be diminished. That ability is part of what made and makes him great. If he has to play a different style, even if just for a while until he returns to full health, then that will have a dramatic impact on Kansas City's offense.
The Chiefs likely have to account for that within the design of their offense, which for years has probably placed too much stress on Mahomes' ability to make magic happen outside the structure of the play. You don't want him to suddenly become a statue in the pocket, of course, but acknowledging that he may not be able to move around as often or as well seems prudent.
Evolving the scheme to reflect the fact that their quarterback is likely not going to be the same type of player is imperative, but the Chiefs were also likely to have to undergo some schematic evolution anyway. Too often this season, they seemed like they were just running their offense from five years ago but without the personnel to make it work the way it did then.
Figuring out ways to give easy buttons to Mahomes and the skill-position players will be important, especially in the wake of his injury. Whether that means incorporating new concepts from other offensive systems or dressing up the same system in different ways to account for the way defenses play Mahomes, it has to happen whenever he returns to the field.
There is, of course, also the possibility that he's not actually ready for the start of the season and has to sit out for a few weeks or even longer. If that's the case, we have no idea who will be under center for the Chiefs. Backup Gardner Minshew isn't under contract for next year, and neither is practice-squad quarterback Chris Oladokun. Kansas City may decide to prioritize a better backup for next season in the event that Mahomes isn't looking likely to start -- or just in case he has to miss time again.
Travis Kelce's's future
Kelce turned 36 in October. His contract is up at the end of the season. He's planning a wedding to one of the most famous people on the planet. Not having the chance to make a playoff run in his final act would sting, but it'd also be understandable if he decided to hang up his spikes and if the Week 18 game against the Raiders is the last time we see him in a Chiefs uniform.
Given his age, his tremendous accomplishments (he is a no-doubt-about-it first-ballot Hall of Famer), his somewhat diminished recent performance (his 4.8 catches per game this season are his fewest since 2015; and while he's been better in 2025, his 2024 performance was alarming enough that if he weren't Travis Kelce, he might not have even been on the Chiefs this season), his off-field successes (his podcast with his brother is one of the biggest in the world, he's ventured into acting and hosting roles, etcetera) and his personal life (he's about to be Mr. Taylor Swift), it honestly might be more surprising if he didn't call it quits.
The only reason I can see that he wouldn't is if he really wants to be around for Mahomes' comeback and one more chance at a playoff run. Given the reality of the Chiefs' situation, though, he would probably have to come back at a significantly reduced salary and in a reduced role, which may or may not be agreeable.
Kansas City almost certainly needs to evolve its offense beyond one that features Kelce as the primary pass catcher. It has tried that over the past two seasons to mixed results, partly because Kelce himself is still around and it's hard to shunt him to the side entirely (especially given that he has been better this year than he was a year ago) and partly because the other pieces of the offense have been alternately injured and not nearly effective enough in their roles to justify turning Kelce into a secondary or tertiary passing-game option. (More on that in a moment.)
If he does decide to retire, the Chiefs will have no choice but to dramatically reshape their offense in terms of both personnel (Noah Gray and Jared Wiley are the only tight ends under guaranteed contract for next season) and focus.
The skill-position corps
Kansas City is not nearly explosive enough at the offensive skill positions, which is just a wild place to be given that the Chiefs had the most explosive offense in the NFL through the early portion of Mahomes' career. But that's where we are.
The Chiefs' running back duo of Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt has posted a strong rushing-success rate due to their favorable running situations, but they've also combined for seven runs of 12 yards or more all season. That's out of 249 total rush attempts, by the way. Among the 43 players with 100 or more carries this season, they rank 40th (Pacheco) and 42nd (Hunt) in explosive run rate, according to Tru Media. That is a totally untenable situation, especially when teams are playing the Chiefs with copious amounts of light boxes and two-high safeties to encourage the run and take away the deep pass.
The Chiefs theoretically added a more explosive back when they selected Brashard Smith in last year's draft, but the sixth-round pick never carved out a real role in the offense and actually played less often down the stretch as the Chiefs faded from the playoff race -- despite the fact that the Chiefs clearly needed someone who could create big plays. Kansas City has tended to bring rookies along slowly and then grow their roles late in the year under the offensive-minded Reid, but that never materialized for Smith.
If he's not going to be the answer (and a sixth-round pick being the answer would be pretty unlikely even if he didn't seemingly see his role vanish down the stretch of his debut campaign), the Chiefs need to make a real investment in the running back slot so that they're not in the same position next year that they have been for the last two. They need to be able to punish defenses for the way they choose to align against them, and they haven't been able to do that since Pacheco suffered his fractured leg last year.
The pass catchers, though, also need to be better. Rashee Rice was coming back this season from a complicated knee injury and also suspended for the first six games, so perhaps with a full offseason program to get healthy and acclimated he can return to being the player he was prior to the 2024 injury. But he's also been a highly specialized player so far in his career, excelling on short passes and beating zone coverage while struggling against man. If he's going to be the team's No. 1 wideout, the Chiefs need to complement him with someone who can beat man coverage. They haven't really done that.
Xavier Worthy got going down the stretch of his rookie season in the same way that Rice did during his, but Rice was also out during the stretch that Worthy excelled, so Worthy was the one getting the short stuff and the designed touches. He didn't get those as often this season, partly because Rice was back and Worthy seemed to be playing through injuries ever since the third snap of the season when he ran into Kelce on a crossing route and injured his shoulder. He had the shoulder issue all year and also sustained multiple ankle injuries.
Still, he's not someone who is equipped to beat tight man coverage given his slight stature, and he and Mahomes have struggled to generate chemistry on the deep passes that are supposed to stretch the field and provide extra space for Rice's underneath stuff. Kansas City's best deep-ball option has probably been Tyquan Thornton, but that's also basically all Thornton does. He, too, isn't much of a man beater except when he's running past his man. The Hollywood Brown experiment, meanwhile, just never worked out after he suffered an injury in his first preseason action prior to last season and then never got untracked this year. And JuJu Smith-Schuster's best skill these days is probably his blocking.
The Chiefs probably need to invest in a more traditional X receiver who can beat man and win quickly on his routes. They need to find someone other than Worthy who can challenge defenses deep down the field but also do more than be an occasional deep shot guy like Thornton or Justin Watson in the past. They probably need to add a tight end or even two to complement Gray and Wiley or perhaps be a focal point of the offense like Kelce. And they desperately need to find someone who can run the ball more consistently and with more explosiveness than Hunt and/or Pacheco.
The offensive line
While it seems like the offensive line is a major issue for the Chiefs due to how things have deteriorated in recent weeks, the reality of the situation is a little more complicated. No reasonable person could have expected that the Chiefs would lose their top four offensive tackles to injury and be playing guys like Esa Pole and Chukwuebuka Godrick in Week 15, for example. So, things are a little more settled than it might appear on the surface.
Kansas City definitively has three of its five offensive line spots solidified. Creed Humphrey remains arguably the best center in the NFL. Trey Smith is one of the NFL's best guards, even if he didn't have his best year as he played through injury. Rookie Josh Simmons had a strong debut season at left tackle, particularly in pass protection. Those guys are solid.
Kingsley Suamataia was far better this season at guard than he was when asked to play tackle as a rookie, and can probably be a solid-enough starter between Simmons and Humphrey. The major question is at right tackle where Jawaan Taylor has struggled with penalties and not been nearly as effective a player as the Chiefs thought he'd be when they signed him to a huge free-agent deal.
The Chiefs have Jaylon Moore to step into the lineup if they part ways with Taylor (which frankly seems pretty likely), but they could also prioritize getting a right tackle in the draft. Our own Mike Renner has them selecting Miami's Francis Mauigoa in Renner's most recent mock draft, for example, and Mauigoa could team with Smith to form a mauling duo on the line's right side. They could also draft a guard and kick Suamataia out to tackle or make him a backup.
Either way, it seems like depth along the offensive line should be more of a priority than a total makeover.
The salary cap
The Chiefs are set to enter the offseason $43.8 million over the 2026 salary cap. They can get all the way under by restructuring or extending Mahomes' contract (which saves $44.4 million), which basically has to happen because he's set to have a $78.2 million cap hit for next season. Basically, the Chiefs built in a restructure or extension to happen in 2026, and it's going to happen, and then they can worry about doing everything else.
And there are other cap-related decisions that need to be made. Taylor is set to count for $27.4 million on the books, but the Chiefs can save $20 million by cutting ties. They have Jaylon Moore on the roster to replace him at right tackle if they do, and it's not like Taylor has been playing at a level commensurate with his contract, so it wouldn't be surprising if they cut ties.
Chris Jones is set to count for $44.9 million on the books and the Chiefs can save $22.5 million by restructuring or extending that deal. They can also save $12.5 million on Trey Smith's $24.3 million hit by restructuring that contract. Kansas City could also save around $10 million by extending Trent McDuffie off of his fifth-year option. If they make all three of those moves, they'd clear around $45 million in space. There are players like Michael Danna ($9 million), Drue Tranquill ($6 million) and Kristian Fulton ($5 million) whose releases could save a bunch of money as well. I'd consider Danna and Fulton far more likely to be gone than I would Tranquill, who still plays an important role.
I'd be surprised if the Chiefs made all of those moves, but some combination of them should be enough to allow them to have a real offseason where they sign their draft class and a bunch of free agents to fill out the roster.
That said, there are also various free agents whose statuses need to be determined: Kelce, Smith-Schuster, Hunt, Pacheco, Brown and Thornton are all set to be unrestricted free agents, as are Jaylen Watson, Bryan Cook, Charles Omenihu and Leo Chenal. Watson, Cook and Chenal, in particular, seem like important players to retain, while the running backs and receivers probably need to be replaced with players who can be more explosive, as mentioned earlier. And all of those decisions need to be made before the Chiefs wade into the free-agent market and prepare for the draft.
