The Kansas City Chiefs have spent lavishly over the past two offseasons, with much of the money going to rewarding homegrown talent who helped deliver back-to-back Super Bowl championships.
Four members of the team’s 2021 draft class — center Creed Humphrey, tight end Noah Gray, linebacker Nick Bolton, and guard Trey Smith — stayed in Kansas City beyond the terms of their original contract. Humphrey and Gray signed extensions ahead of their fourth seasons, while Bolton and Smith (while on the franchise tag) eventually re-signed upon reaching free agency.
From the 2022 class, defensive end George Karlaftis will potentially stay with the Chiefs through the 2030 season, with the first-round selection signing an extension during last season’s training camp. Other notable names from the class include cornerback Jaylen Watson, linebacker Leo Chenal, and safety Bryan Cook, who are set to become unrestricted free agents next month. Their futures in Kansas City probably depend on the interest they receive on the open market.
The team’s other first-round selection, two-time All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, is still nominally tied to the Chiefs for 2026 via the fifth-year option (valued at $13.6 million). However, McDuffie is widely predicted to either sign an extension of his own or be traded this offseason.
While McDuffie is easily the Chiefs’ most obvious extension candidate, he may be the only player Kansas City feels a need to lock up on the current roster. This does not count star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who will probably sign a completely redone contract in 2027 after again restructuring this offseason to create salary cap space.
The team’s 2023 draft class is now extension eligible, though it is doubtful any of them receive lucrative new contracts before the season starts.
The team drafted defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the first round, but he has only three career sacks. The underwhelming start to his career led into the hamstring injury suffered last training camp that forced him to miss the entire 2025 season. Not only will the Chiefs have no desire to extend him, but the team will also assuredly decline Anudike-Uzomah’s fifth-year option.
Having just turned 24, there is still time for Anudike-Uzomah to carve out a role in the league. However, he will enter a contract season needing to justify even staying in the league in 2027.
Wide receiver Rashee Rice, the Chiefs’ second-round selection, is more complicated. At Rice’s best, he has looked like one of the league’s most dangerous wideouts. Unfortunately, he missed most of his second season after a major knee injury. Upon returning in 2025 (both from the injury and a six-game league suspension), Rice’s third campaign was marked both by dominant moments and frustrating bouts of inconsistency with drops and route errors.
Drama has continued to follow Rice through his short NFL career, continuing Wednesday as we learned a former partner has filed a lawsuit against him in Texas alleging domestic violence. The Chiefs have shown a high tolerance for navigating off-field legal issues, but Rice’s latest problems may ultimately end his time in Kansas City before the final season of his rookie contract.
Assuming he plays in 2026, Rice will need to show more consistency — on top of satisfying increasingly magnified character concerns — for any team to invest in him.
The rest of the class has not proven much towards long-term contracts.
Little information is known about the recovery timeline for tackle Wanya Morris’ season-ending knee injury. The team’s 2023 third-round selection has had multiple chances to establish himself as a starting tackle — only to repeatedly come up short. Most observers saw right tackle as Morris’ most likely NFL position, and the Chiefs are expected to release starter Jawaan Taylor before the league year begins. However, it is unknown if Morris will recover to factor into a hypothetical right tackle competition.
Safety Chamarri Conner, for better or for worse, has been a mainstay on the Chiefs’ defense. Conner may be a candidate for a minor extension because his snap counts will qualify for a mandatory raise to about $3.6 million under the league’s Proven Performance Escalator. The Chiefs could add years onto Conner’s rookie deal and pay the increase as a signing bonus for salary cap purposes.
The team’s other three 2023 draft selections are not on the team. Edge rusher BJ Thompson, selected in the fifth round, saw his NFL career end after suffering a frightening cardiac arrest episode at the team facility in July of 2024.
Defensive tackle Keondre Coburn has passed through three NFL teams since the Chiefs waived him during his rookie season and did not play in 2025. Cornerback Nic Jones has since moved on to the New York Giants. Before selecting either player in 2023, Kansas City traded the 178th selection for a 2024 fifth-round pick. This implies the Chiefs may have exhausted their draft board and had undrafted free agent grades on both Coburn and Jones in the first place.
At any rate, minimal returns on the 2023 draft class leave the Chiefs still searching for contributors at multiple key positions. Should the team move McDuffie, it is conceivable that Kansas City could see an offseason pass without locking up any in-house talent.
While heavy roster turnover should be expected after a disappointing 2025 campaign, the Chiefs find themselves without an opportunity to spread the financial impact of extensions over the final seasons of rookie contracts — and thus deprived of one of the best ways to manage the league’s salary cap.