The NFL offseason will officially start on Monday, which means before the final game of the NFL season, there’s no better time to dive into some rumors that could upend the entire offseason. Travis Kelce is in the twilight years of his career with his retirement imminent. Matthew Stafford already vowed another season in Los Angeles, could that mean Kelce has one last hurrah?
As for the Minnesota Vikings, well, they’re entertaining some trade moves as J.J. McCarthy doesn’t quite look ready to lead this team on a playoff run. Speaking of quarterbacks, Malik Willis might be the hottest name on the market. He’ll be a free agent and there won’t be a shortage of teams interested in signing him as he could be the Daniel Jones of the 2026 season.Â
Is this Travis Kelce's last right with the Chiefs?
A year ago, rumors swirled around Travis Kelce and whether he’d call it a career or return for one more playoff run after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl loss. A year later, those same rumors are magnified as Kelce is once again at the forefront of retirement talks. According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, it’s more like Kelce returns for one more season than retiring.
It would make sense for him to return for one last shot at a Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs were embarrassed last year and Patrick Mahomes’ ACL injury was the proverbial nail in the coffin, which was the Chiefs’ first losing season since Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback.Â
Kelce had seven straight seasons of at least 1,000 receiving yards, but hasn’t reached the mark in any of the last three seasons. He’s certainly on the decline, but with the Chiefs dynasty trending downward over the last few seasons, this might be the last chance they all have at winning one final championship. Golden State did it after injuries decimated their season, can Kelce get one final ring to solidify his hall of fame career?
Minnesota’s desperate quarterback solution backfired quickly
Minnesota is way too desperate to find their immediate replacement for J.J. McCarthy. So desperate they tried to con the Cincinnati Bengals into an unnecessary trade that obviously backfired. The Vikings aren’t going to get a quick solution to their McCarthy problem, but you can’t blame them for trying to flip Joe Burrow’s possible frustration with the Bengals into their gain.Â
Best case for them is the Vikings do what their original plan is in signing a veteran that will be good enough to actually make this offense good. Kirk Cousins is the obvious decision here with Kevin O’Connell’s familiarity with the veteran quarterback. That would also buy McCarthy a year to improve and bounce back.Â
The Vikings are wise to find a short term replacement under center because McCarthy isn’t ready to be that guy for them. On top of that, they can’t waste Justin Jefferson’s prime waiting for McCarthy to develop. They need to bring in someone that is already good enough they can plug and play. Of course, Burrow is the ideal option, but that was always farfetched. I guess it’s back to the drawing board.Â
Malik Willis is garnering a lot of attention ahead of busy free agency
Two teams that will be aggressive in trying to land Malik Willis this offseason will be the Miami Dolphins and the Arizona Cardinals. Miami makes a lot of sense with Jeff Hafley, the former defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, having worked with him the last two seasons. The Arizona Cardinals are the other team that could go after Willis.Â
Now both teams are already handicapped by two quarterbacks, though each respective team is very interested in getting replacements. After all, Tua Tagovailoa has been disappointing while Kyler Murray is an injury liability. The Cardinals and Dolphins could get good returns on their respective quarterbacks so you have to think they’re destined for a Sam Darnold-Geno Smith-esk type of swap.Â
It worked out for Seattle so maybe offloading an underperforming quarterback is worth it for a promising one.