predicted the Kansas City Chiefs will miss the 2026 playoffs, even after saying the roster got better this offseason. The forecast lands on a team that has leaned on Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones for stability while trying to keep the rest of the roster from thinning out.
Brett Veach and the depth problem
The projection turns on depth, not star power. Brett Veach was described as failing to add enough low-salaried contributors, and Andy Reid's offense grew stale enough that the group could not keep carrying the load every week.
The Chiefs also lost some of the margin they had built before. Steve Spagnuolo's ability to turn middle-round defensive backs into viable starters helped absorb departures such as Charvarius Ward, L'Jarius Sneed and Tyrann Mathieu, while Joe Thuney and Orlando Brown Jr. were acquired and then quickly replaced.
That is where the contradiction sits. The Chiefs got better this offseason, but the prediction says the improvement still will not be enough because the supporting cast has to do more than it has done around Mahomes, Kelce and Jones.
Rashee Rice and the run game
Offensively, the numbers point to the same concern. Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt lacked explosion on running back carries, and the Chiefs' handoff game did not exist. The 2024 and 2025 Chiefs had two of the three least explosive seasons on running back carries this century.
Kansas City did add Kenneth Walker III, but the backfield issue is only part of it. Rashee Rice must once again be the load-bearing wall of a thin receiver group, and both Jaylen Watson and Trent McDuffie are no longer taking snaps, which leaves fewer easy answers if the offense stalls.
Mike Pennel and 's withdrawal
's Kansas City coverage also shifted this week on a separate matter involving Mike Pennel. The outlet took down a story about Pennel and the death of a woman in the Dominican Republic after his representatives provided documentation supporting his statement that he was not in the Dominican Republic when the woman disappeared.
“Since the publication of the story, Pennel’s representatives have provided with documentation, including travel and financial records, supporting Pennel’s statements to that he was not in the Dominican Republic at the time the woman disappeared.”
That removal leaves the Chiefs' football outlook and the Pennel matter on different tracks, but both sit inside the same 7/2 Kansas City news cycle. The football prediction is the sharper one for readers tracking the 2026 NFL season: better on paper, still short of the 2026 playoffs.
