The Chiefs made it to at least the AFC Championship in each of Patrick Mahomes' first seven seasons as a starter, but unfortunately Year 8 concluded with Kansas City's star QB tearing his ACL. The result was the team limping to its first losing record since 2012.

Of course, that doesn't mean this was a terrible football team. Much of the team's failure came down to a brutal 1-9 record in one-score games just one season after going a ridiculous 12-0 in contests decided by eight or fewer points.

• 2025: 6-11 (+34 point differential, preseason win total: 11.5)
• Points per game: 21.3 (21st)
• EPA per pass: +0.09 (14th)
• EPA per rush: -0.06 (14th)
• Points per game against: 19.3 (6th)
• EPA per pass against: +0.05 (15th)
• EPA per rush against: -0.1 (11th)

There are certainly plenty of improvements across the roster to be made for GM Brett Veach to get this team back to operating at a championship level. Unfortunately, nobody has less cap space to work with at the moment, so most marquee additions will probably have to be made through the draft unless Veach and company can find a way to restructure a plethora of contracts.

What Do The Kansas City Chiefs Need To Address In The 2026 Offseason?

Need 1: Secondary

Starting CB Jaylen Watson and S Bryan Cook are hitting free agency, leaving the Chiefs particularly thin at the latter position–only the Bears have fewer 2026 dollars devoted to their safety room at the moment.

Still, the defense as a whole was a strength. The only real pass defense metric that the Chiefs ranked lowly in was completion rate allowed (66.8%, 6th worst), but even then we're talking about a defense that saw each of their starting three corners end the season on the injured reserve list.

Improving the back end is obviously encouraged, but if there's someone who can make more with less it's defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who has led six top-10 scoring defenses in seven seasons with the Chiefs.

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Need 2: Pass Catcher

There are two key questions here that the Chiefs will hope to have answered sooner rather than later:

• Will 36-year-old Travis Kelce retire?
• Will No. 1 WR Rashee Rice face any discipline from the NFL surrounding his latest off-the-field issue?

The answers to those questions will ultimately determine just how hard the Chiefs need to go work to stock up their WR and TE rooms. Additional wide receivers will be needed regardless with JuJu Smith-Schuster, Hollywood Brown and Tyquan Thornton all hitting the open market—add it all together and only the Raiders have fewer 2026 dollars devoted to their pass catchers as a whole.

Of course, devoting resources to a problem is one thing, actually picking good players is another. Top two-round picks like Xavier Worthy, Skyy Moore, and Mecole Hardman simply haven't or didn't live up to expectations, and midseason trades for DeAndre Hopkins and Kadarius Toney also failed to work out in meaningful ways over the years.

Need 3: Running back

Both Kareem Hunt and Isiah Pacheco are free agents, making this the league's cheapest running back room in terms of 2026 dollars devoted to the position.

Hunt deserves credit for consistently moving the chains in short-yardage situations, and rookie Brashard Smith flashed as a pass catcher, but overall this group was objectively a bottom-10 unit with the football in their hands. Averages and ranks from Chiefs running backs as a whole last season reflect this.

• Yards per carry: 3.7 (30th)
• Yards after contact per carry: 2.6 (31st)
• Tackles avoided per carry: 14% (31st)
• Explosive run rate: 3% (32nd)

There are a number of big-name free agent running backs like Breece Hall, Travis Etienne and Kenneth Walker. Any would instantly be expected to put up big numbers in this offense should the Chiefs decide to spend up on the position.

Honorable mention

Backup QB could unfortunately be more important than usual depending on Mahomes' knee recovery … Adding to the offensive line is always encouraged, although the Chiefs are already the only team spending nine figures on their big uglies up front ahead of 2026—the unit was actually quite solid at full health last season.

If I were GM …

I'd spend all three of Kansas City's top 74 picks on shiny new playmakers to spruce up an offense that has no business again being as boring as they have been over the past two seasons. Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love in Round 1 or his teammate Jadarian Price in Round 2? Sure. Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq if Kelce retires? Sounds good. Generally adding more speed and big-play ability to an offense that ranks 28th in total explosive plays during the last two seasons? Yes, please.

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