NFL Trade Rumors
Budget is the big word on the mind for a lot of people this year. Between the holidays, grocery prices and inflation, lots of folks are thinking about keeping the books balanced. If you went a little wild on the gifts, you might be looking to pull back in some other areas.
NFL teams are the same way, with a few rabid spenders looking ahead to next year and bracing for a tightening of the belt. Six teams are projected by Over The Cap to be $25 million or more in the red for 2026 as things stand today, numbers that would make Dave Ramsey glower.
If your favorite team is on this list, don’t worry. We’ll be doing a series of articles diving in to dig these squads out of the hole and get them back in the black. Consider this series a preview of what the coming year ahead could look like for these teams, as budget deficits this big usually mean some tough decisions are due.
First up, the maybe dying dynasty? The Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs have had a charmed run. They’ve been in every AFC championship game since QB Patrick Mahomes took over as the starter in 2018, and have been in five Super Bowls with three wins in that span. Last year, they were 11-0 in one-score games, pulling out wins they frankly shouldn’t have.
This year, they’re not getting away with it. The 2025 Chiefs are better than the 2024 version but remain flawed in big ways and aren’t getting the lucky breaks to compensate. Kansas City is 6-7 and its playoff hopes are on the ropes. In fact, there’s a not-too-far-fetched scenario where they’re eliminated this weekend. Faced with a January at home for the first time since HC Andy Reid’s second season in 2014, along with the biggest cap deficit since GM Brett Veach took over, it feels like major changes are in store for the Chiefs.
The first order of business will be wiping out the salary cap hole. Odds are the biggest chunk will come from Mahomes’ contract, as he’s currently slated to have a cap hit of $78 million in 2026. A simple restructure would lower that by $44 million and spread things out over the rest of his deal, which still has a staggering six years left on it. The Chiefs adjusted Mahomes’ deal in 2023 to move up some money and give him a raise to put him more in line with a quarterback market that has grown tremendously since he inked a deal worth $45 million a year. It’s possible that could be a consideration once again.
Once that’s done, the Chiefs can get under the cap with just one more move — releasing RT Jawaan Taylor and shedding his $20 million non-guaranteed 2026 salary. Taylor has been a popular punching...
