If the Kansas City Chiefs want to contend in 2026, their defense must improve in big moments. Without a consistent pass rush, they need superstars in the secondary. Trent McDuffie is an All-Pro but wants a boatload of cash. Should the Chiefs give it to him?
Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach spoke to the media on Tuesday regarding a wide variety of issues at the center of the team’s latest rebuild within their championship window.
At the heart of the room, the question isn’t whether Travis Kelce comes back for one final season, but what to do about Cornerback Trent McDuffie. The debate is clear. Sign him to a record deal to keep him in Kansas City or trade him for multiple picks that could include a 2026 first-round pick.
This is not an easy decision for Veach or the Chiefs. In exercising the team’s fifth-year option last summer, talks with McDuffie’s agents, Patrick Collins and Jimmy Sexton, are going to be a hard bargain.
The good news is that both agents secured a long-term deal with another Chiefs client, Trey Smith, so there is good blood between the reps and the team.
However, as we saw when the Chiefs traded L’Jarius Sneed to the Tennessee Titans two years ago, Veach has yet to pay a cornerback market price. Instead, he’s relied on the NFL draft to replenish the position.
Last year, he did give Kristen Fulton a free-agent deal, but it wasn’t a salary-cap-breaking contract.
McDuffie will demand a deal north of $100 million. If it were my money, I couldn’t sign off on that expenditure, but I don’t get to make that call.
Veach has a clear plan for this offense. He needs pass rushers, a game-changing running back, a starting safety, and to decide whether to sign McDuffie or Jaylen Watson, who might have a higher ceiling.
McDuffie will get priority as Veach, and his agents continue their contract talks from last summer. Both sides are at the NFL Combine, and Chairman Clark Hunt is on speed dial if the two can reach a deal.
Either way, the mini rebuild in hand for Veach has moving parts. The team is still about $3.5 million over the projected 2026 salary cap. Veach admitted he believes the Chiefs can create roughly $60 million in cap space through additional roster moves.
They already cut Mike Danna, and Jawaan Taylor could be the next casualty. Drue Tranquill has also been mentioned as a cut, but his value to the defense outweighs his 2026 cost. In other words, they need him to resurrect the defense.
So, that brings us back to McDuffie. He’s a solid cornerback who needs to play in the slot. Because of his size, he struggles on the outside. Since Super Bowl LIX, the league has attacked his lack of height and exploited his inability to play the outside.
When he’s inside, there’s no better slot cornerback in the NFL. If Fulton can show his late-season form and Nohl Williams can grow into the starter’s role, then signing McDuffie makes sense. Yet that would likely mean Watson would sign with another team.
In the best of all worlds, Veach would do his defense a big favor by signing both free-agent corners.
Today could be a big day for the Chiefs as they begin talking to agents and getting a general sense of which free agents might be interested in Kansas City when the league year opens in two weeks.
