Arrowhead Pride
Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Each week, watch for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page.
After a soul-crushing 16-13 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, questions now extend well beyond the final score — including when quarterback Patrick Mahomes might take the field again. Let’s see what’s on our readers’ minds.
What should Santa be bringing the Chiefs for Christmas?
Even before this week’s devastating injury news, the Chiefs had largely created their own bad luck: receiver drops, penalties, predictable coaching decisions, uninspiring personnel moves and repeated third-and-long defensive collapses. Taken together, that résumé probably lands them squarely on the naughty list — and they’ve already received plenty of coal.
The club already received its most important late-season gift: a successful ACL repair surgery for Mahomes, a development that at least keeps the door open for a Week 1 return. If Santa remains generous, the next request would be simple: no more serious injuries after a Sunday in which nearly every drive seemed to end with someone needing medical attention.
On the field — with three glorified exhibitions remaining — continued progress from rookie defensive end Ashton Gillotte would make for a nice stocking stuffer. Strong performances from any young players earning expanded roles down the stretch would also qualify as small wins while waiting out the season.
It’s unclear how serious the knee injury to tackle Jaylon Moore is, but it would be ideal if Kansas City could get a larger sample of him at right tackle. The other four offensive line spots appear spoken for in 2026. With $7 million in guaranteed salary next season, Moore likely isn’t going anywhere — and probably gets the first look at the job — but additional reps on the right side would be valuable.
Off the field, the team’s impending financial squeeze is probably being overstated for dramatic effect. Still, general manager Brett Veach would happily unwrap a larger-than-expected salary-cap increase for 2026.
Another nice gift would be a deep quarterback class in the 2026 NFL Draft. It would be great if as many top college passers as possible — such as Oregon’s Dante Moore — enter the draft, therefore nudging other blue-chip talent down toward Kansas City’s eventual draft position.
If tight end Travis Kelce does decide to retire after the season, would it be possible for him to come back for a 2026 playoff run?
I still suspect that early in the offseason, we will know whether Kelce plans to return or retire — but it’s also possible that he may want to wait for more definitive updates on Mahomes’ rehab before making his decision. Even in a best-case scenario, Mahomes is likely to miss much of training camp — which could make the Chiefs more aggressive than usual in selling their most familiar receiving target on another season.
Kelce’s contract...
