NFL Insider Jason La Canfora Discusses the Chiefs' Offense with Executives Ahead of Preseason

Expectations for the Kansas City Chiefs, during the quasi-dynastic tenure of head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, are relatively unparalleled in the NFL.

They are the closest thing to the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady New England Patriots we could ever anticipate seeing, they are far from done, and like those Pats teams they are beyond driven and always seeking new ways to motivate despite all they have already accomplished (regular Super Bowl appearances and multiple Lombardi Trophies). With Mahomes returning from major surgery, losing the back end of his 2025 season with the Chiefs to injury and not only failing to win the AFC West for the first time since these two got together but missing the playoffs entirely, the league is on notice. They will be out to make a point.

What’s less clear is, with Mahomes well ahead of schedule and a virtual lock to start Week 1 now (barring any unforeseen setback with his knee), does he have sufficient playmakers around him on offense to achieve those lofty goals? It’s one thing to be in playing shape and cleared to play, but it’s usually not until the second full season back from a knee repair like this that the player fully trusts it and gets back to the height of his athletic prowess. In the interim, the supporting cast must help him flourish.

Mahomes is on target to go down as a top five quarterback in the history of this league and he attacked his recovery and 75% of him is still elite. But there is going to be a process of discovery for him and Reid about how to navigate through this, especially in the first half of the season. Top wide receiver Rashee Rice just returned to training camp amid even more legal issues for him and after a knee procedure, too. Tight end Travis Kelce, or Mr. Taylor Swift now that the couple are official, is past his prime and potentially cooked.

Is this too tall a task, even for the mighty Mahomes, and must they add more talent on offense before the midseason trade deadline?

"I don’t think they’re a great offense, Jason, I really don’t," top NFL analyst Brian Baldinger told me this offseason, and he’s far from the only one opining as such. "They don’t look like it to me. They haven’t done enough."

Plenty of NFL execs thought Reid might lean deep into a diverse set of pass catchers at the top of the draft, but they went heavy defense instead. Counting on Rice is a recipe for disappointment, with him barely playing the last two years. Running back Kenneth Walker was a solid signing from Seattle, but he’s not a bell cow, game-changing back (his touches must be closely monitored) and he’s not dominant in the pass game.

It’s hard to say who is, frankly, when it comes to catching the ball in this offense. Rice averaged a scant 3.5 adjusted yards/route run last season, nearly two yards down from 2024. They lack a deep presence and some believe Kelce is a short-distance decoy at this point, no longer able to impact games in a meaningful manner.

"Kelce is done," one NFL advance scout told me. "That’s over. What you saw last year – that’s what he is."

Kelce in 2025 hit career lows in drop percentage (7.8%, nearly twice his prior career average) and adjusted yards per route, and his depth of target has been in decline. The real rub is that, despite that dropoff, Kelce ran the fourth-most routes of his career (gulp, might really hit the wall in 2026) and came away with the fewest receptions he’s had since 2015 (pre-Mahomes). Lack of dynamic personnel has sapped Kansas City’s red zone offense, once a superpower, and Kelce has just 13 total touchdowns over the last three years after posting 12 in 2022.

One personnel executive wondered which personnel groupings fit the team best, with him not loving their depth chart if aligned in 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends and two receivers) or 11 (three receivers, one back, one tight end). But one must keep in mind, this is still Reid and Mahomes.

Reid needs to get more creative with his schemes, and bringing hard-nosed former coordinator Eric Bieniemy back into the staff should help in several ways. Some things on offense probably got a little stale.

"One thing about Andy," NFL analyst and broadcaster and former MVP quarterback Rich Gannon told me, "you can look back and he has a history of being brutally honest with himself. You look at the Super Bowl where Mahomes got beat up by Tampa, and Andy said, ‘That’s on me, I didn’t have the right offensive line.’ And he fixed it."

Gannon, who was coached by Reid on the Chiefs staff in the 1990s and knows his system incredibly well, harbors some of Baldinger’s same concerns about Kansas City’s overall offensive talent. But he can’t dismiss their chances, and Kansas City will be aggressive in pursuing another play maker before the trade deadline.

"Andy will be honest and he’ll address those concerns," Gannon suggested, "and he’ll find a way to get it fixed in every room. They have time. With Kelce, he’ll manage that workload and be careful with him. Andy is so good with that, they have tremendous continuity there on the coaching staff across offense, defense and special teams. They are going to be formidable."