The Kansas City Chiefs are about to miss the playoffs. Sure, there's a chance the team gets in, but it requires winning out, plus at least two losses from the Chargers and Colts. Considering Justin Herbert just beat the defending champion Eagles on Monday, that might be the hardest part.
The Chiefs aren't a "bad" team. How could they be with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback? But just like 2024 saw the team have an unsustainable run of good luck in close games, 2025 has seen the opposite play out, putting a team that's made seven consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances in danger of missing the postseason altogether.
What can Kansas City do this offseason to ensure this doesn't happen again? Here are five changes Kansas City needs to make if the team misses the postseason to put it back on track in 2026.
Retooling the wide receiver room
It seems like ever since Tyreek Hill left, Kansas City has taken this laissez-faire approach to wide receiver. Draft guys. Sign lower-tier free agents. But don't actually put in the money and effort to go out and grab a real game-changer.
It's worked before, but 2025 has seen that fall apart. Rashee Rice is the only Chiefs wide receiver with over 500 yards, which is a major problem since he opened the season with a six-game suspension. Hollywood Brown is clearly not the same guy he used to be and Xavier Worthy is quickly trending toward bust territory. There were people who thought Tyquan Thornton would emerge as a key piece of this offense, but since Rice returned, Thornton has just four total receptions.
Kansas City has to do something here, and I don't just mean spending a second-round pick on the position. Either it's time to give Mahomes a first-round wide receiver, or it's time to go out and bring in a big-name free agent. The issue with the latter is that options are slim — Deebo Samuel would be too gadgety for what the Chiefs need, so you're really looking at...luring George Pickens out of Dallas? To add a veteran receiver who can be a No. 1, or at least a major improvement as the No. 2, the Chiefs will likely need to hit the trade market.
But whatever it takes, KC can not go into 2026 with this same receiving corps. That's a recipe for another failed season.
Get a true No. 1 running back
Kareem Hunt has done a solid job taking over after Isiah Pacheco's production fell off a cliff, but it's time to retool this running back room. Hunt will be 31 years old when the 2026 season begins, and you can't trust your run game to a 31-year-old back.
I'm not saying Kansas City needs to spend a first-round pick on Jeremiyah Love — it would likely need to trade up to do that — but maybe trying to draft Michigan's Justice Haynes or Washington's Jonah Coleman would help?
Or, the Chiefs could look at a solid free agent market. They wanted Breece Hall at the trade deadline but weren't willing to meet New York's price. Could the Chiefs find a way to get him in the offseason? That'd be the ideal outcome, but a fallback plan of Travis Etienne, Rico Dowdle, Kenneth Walker or even Tyler Allgeier isn't the worst option. This is a solid free-agent running back class, which is good news for Kansas City.
It's time to move on from Jawaan Taylor
Maybe this is just anecdotal, but every time I watch the Chiefs play football, offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor commits at least one really bad penalty that kills the Chiefs' momentum.
Add in that Taylor's not been very good at actually playing offensive line this year, and you get that it's time for the Chiefs to move on. Take PFF grades with a grain of salt, but Taylor ranks 72nd out of 82 tackles in overall grade and 80th in run blocking grade. Not good! He's had 13 penalties this season and consistently frustrates Chiefs fans. It's time to get a new right tackle.
Add at least one new pass rusher
George Karlaftis leads Kansas City in sacks. He's recorded six of them in 2025. Chris Jones has four sacks, while no one else has more than two.
There are good pieces on this defense, but adding another edge rusher who can pressure opposing quarterbacks would be huge. Kansas City has the eighth-fewest sacks in the NFL, though the team has done a good job getting to the quarterback just a split second late, with the second-highest knockdown rate. KC can get pressure, but it needs another player who can close the deal and get the quarterback to the ground before the ball is released.
Play Nohl Williams full time
Chiefs rookie corner Nohl Williams hasn't played enough snaps to qualify for PFF's leaderboard, but his 73.6 grade would rank 16th in the league if he did qualify for the board, which would give the team two top 20 corners by PFF grade.
Instead, Williams' snap count has been all over the place. Against Houston, a Trent McDuffie injury led to Williams playing 89 percent of KC's defensive snaps, but in three weeks before that game, he'd played just seven total defensive snaps, with the Chiefs using him primarily on special teams.
It shouldn't have taken a McDuffie injury to get Williams out there for a full workload. It's a small change, but Williams playing full-time in 2026 can help shore up this Kansas City defense.