Thus, Kansas City is moving all this money around in a year where they might be bad anyway. That only pushes the bill to future years, which will make it harder for the team to build up a roster around Mahomes. With this move, Mahomes has a projected cap hit of $85.2 million. The next three years are all above $50 million.
It doesn’t matter how great the quarterback is; it’s really hard to build a complete roster when one player has a cap hit that is similar to an entire NHL franchise.
The Chiefs aren’t restructuring Mahomes out of a place of strength. They are restructuring him out of a place of weakness. The Evil Empire is starting to show cracks, and now it’s up to the Chargers to take advantage.
ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum offered his thoughts on what he would do with Kelce on SportsCenter.
“I would move on from Travis Kelce,” Tannenbaum said. “When you’re in the front office, you have to project what a player is going to do, not what they’ve done. Travis Kelce is a first ballot Hall of Famer, but when you watch him and make an honest and sober evaluation of his 2025 performance, clearly his best days are behind him.
“If I was Kansas City, I would make the right, albeit difficult, decision, move on from Travis Kelce.”
Kansas City Chiefs
Edge Felix Anudike-Uzomah
Anudike-Uzomah has not come close to living up to his potential as a first-round pick for the Chiefs. He barely played in his rookie year in 2023 and had just 2.5 sacks with three starts in his sophomore campaign. In 2025, he missed the entire season with a hamstring injury. At best, he is fourth on the Chiefs’ depth chart, behind George Karlaftis, Mike Danna and Ashton Gillotte. With one year remaining on his rookie deal, perhaps a trade would allow Anudike-Uzomah to finally find the potential that teams saw when he came out of Kansas State.
Hill spent his first six NFL seasons with the Chiefs, earning four All-Pro selections and winning Super Bowl LIV. And with Kansas City missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014, the team could be looking to make significant moves this offseason as well. Even defensive tackle Chris Jones has urged Hill to return to Kansas City.
Sure enough, on Wednesday, Hill made a visit to Kansas City, posting a selfie on Snapchat using the city’s filter.
Although there have been no reports of an imminent signing, thanks to Miami’s decision to release Hill weeks before free agency began, he is eligible to sign with any team immediately.
The 25-year-old has never been in a full-time contributor in Kansas City’s defense, playing fewer than 550 snaps in each of his four seasons with the Chiefs. But in his rotational role, he flashed playmaking ability, plugged holes against the run, generated seven sacks and held his own in coverage (when asked). The former third-round pick is primed to find more responsibility in a new defense. Unfortunately, off-ball linebackers without every-down experience typically don’t have burgeoning markets. If he lands a full-time role, the return on investment, however, could be significant for his new club.
Odafe Oweh, edge rusher, Los Angeles Chargers
The Chiefs are lucky to have a quality pass rusher like George Karlaftis. They desperately need to add another who can win on an island with a skill set, such as explosiveness, speed-to-power, and flexibility working around the arc. Oweh emerged as that type of player for the Chargers this past season and should be paid handsomely, with Kansas City being the team that should attempt to do so.
Teller, an impending free agent, and his wife, Carly, said goodbye to the city of Cleveland in an Instagram post Wednesday.
“While we are excited and look forward to what the future holds, Cleveland will always have a special place in our hearts,” Teller said.
Teller, 31, made 94 of his 101 career starts in Cleveland and was named to three Pro Bowls, as well as three All-Pro teams, in seven seasons. But the Browns began rotating Teller with Teven Jenkins in a Week 13 game against the San Francisco 49ers. Teller injured his calf in that game and then sat out the next three games. He returned in Week 17 but aggravated his calf injury. Cleveland put Teller on injured reserve days later.
In 2025, Teller ranked 57th out of 65 qualifying guards in ESPN’s pass block win rate metric and 40th out of 62 guards in run block win rate.
A fifth-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2018, Teller had expressed a desire to retire in Cleveland but acknowledged the uncertainty of his future the day the Browns put him on IR.
“I don’t want it to be [my last game], but if it is, it is. I enjoyed my time,” Teller said.
Allen purchased the Seahawks in 1997 and earned the franchise’s first Super Bowl win in 2013. Allen died in 2018 and his younger sister, Jody Allen, has served as chair of the Seahawks since then.
Paul Allen’s will stipulated that the Seahawks would eventually be sold with the proceedings given to philanthropic efforts.
NFL Senior National Columnist Judy Battista reported on Wednesday that there was some level of urgency from the league for the Seattle franchise to start this process prior to the Annual League Meeting, which runs March 29 to April 1 in Phoenix.
The Seahawks’ sale price is expected to set a new NFL record, surpassing the $6.05 billion price a partnership led by Josh Harris paid for the Washington Commanders in 2023.
According to Fitzgerald’s calculations, Kansas City’s deficit will be reduced to $11 million — although Spotrac’s updated figure is $14.4 million. Regardless, general manager Brett Veach has given himself breathing room and still holds a strong hand of moves to allow the Chiefs to be ready for free agency and contract negotiations.
The Arrowhead Pride staff will break down the bigger picture of this move that bolstered Mahomes’ 2027 cap number to over $85 million soon. In the immediate future, this was a necessary lever to pull — and defensive tackle Chris Jones’ contract is in a similar position. To round out his article on Mahomes’ contract, Fitzgerald pointed to Jones being “the next logical restructure candidate.”
Currently, Jones’ 2026 cap number is nearly $45 million, but that number does not increase in either of the following two years. If that’s the next move, it likely puts Kansas City into green, but there would still be more work to do.
