Chiefs get Patrick Mahomes boost despite quarterback blow and two players ditched

The Kansas City Chiefs will look to rebuild in the 2025 offseason after seeing their 15-2 season go to waste with a blowout Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles

It’s poised to be an offseason of change for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs following the side’s blowout 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.

Mahomes isn’t going anywhere, but his longtime tight end Travis Kelce has hinted at retirement on the heels of the worst season of his NFL career, statically speaking. Kansas City also has a handful of key players set to his free agency, namely guard Trey Smith and linebacker Nick Bolton, as the team looks to maintain depth on both sides of the football.

Naturally, the scattergun of offseason transactions for Kansas City have already commenced: both good and bad so far.

Mahomes boost

The NFL salary cap is expected to balloon from $255.4 million to somewhere between $277.5 million and $281.5 million in 2025, a key development considering Mahomes’s seismic $66 million cap hit. The former MVP inked a 10-year, $477 million extension in 2020 to keep him in Kansas City ideally for the rest of his career. The figures exponentially increase each year.

The exploding cap should give Kansas City slightly more wiggle room than expected and will provide the front office more ammo to retain both Smith and Bolton in free agency.

Mahomes blow

The Chiefs opted to not place either the franchise or transition tag on Smith, a 2024 Pro Bowl selection and a two-time Super Bowl winner whose 78.8 PFF grade last year ranked 11th amongst 135 qualified guards.

Why didn’t they tag him? The highest-paid guard in the league makes just north of $20 million, but any tag offer would average either the five (franchise) or 10 (transition) highest-paid offensive linemen in the league – not just guards – regardless of position.

This figure would slot closer to $25 million. While Smith is elite, he likely doesn’t command star left tackle money. Kansas City will let him test free agency.

Two players ditched

Reporter Aaron Wilson announced that the Chiefs let the practice squad contracts expire for veterans Steven Nelson and Cole Christiansen after both failed to see a snap during the postseason. Nelson, a cornerback originally drafted by Kansas City in 2015, came out of retirement last December amid a slew of injuries in the Chiefs’ secondary. He never played a down and will now test free agency.

Christiansen was a special teams contributor and fringe linebacker with the Chiefs for several seasons. The two-time Super Bowl winner logged two tackles during the 2023 playoffs but didn’t see the field last season.

But will Kelce stay in Kansas City? “I know everybody wants to know whether or not I’m playing next year, and right now I’m just kicking everything down the road,” Kelce recently told his ‘New Heights’ podcast. “I’m kicking every can I can down the road.

“I’m not making any crazy decisions [yet]. Right now the biggest thing is just being there for my teammates and being there for my coaches, understanding there’s a lot that goes into this thing.”