The Kansas City Chiefs’ 2025 season did not go as the fans or players had planned. After a 6-11 finish in the regular season, it was the first time the team had not made it to the playoffs since 2015. The reason was a missing offensive momentum, which broke the team apart.
Travis Kelce, a key puzzle piece in the Chiefs’ offense, had the second-worst season of his career. The 36-year-old veteran tight end is a free agent now, with his contract ending in 2025. The team must have good reasons to re-sign him, as he brings experience to the table. But there is a big roadblock.
Cap Hit Makes Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs Future Uncertain
While the Chiefs could give Kelce another contract extension, the salary cap is going to be a very big problem. Shedding light on this matter, analyst Ian Rapoport appeared on “The Insiders” on NFL Network to talk about what the future holds for the Chiefs.
Posting the clip on X, Rapoport wrote, “From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: Among the challenges the #Chiefs face this offseason, being more than $50M over the cap is a big one.”
He first started talking about the Chiefs’ 2025-26 NFL season. Rapoport conveyed the cap hit, saying:
“They’re a Super Bowl contender every single year. They have Patrick Mahomes; they have excellent players at all sorts of levels of their team. And they have a lot of high-priced players. And I know they didn’t make the playoffs this year, and I’m saying that this gives them the champagne promise to deal with right now, a $54 million over the cap.”
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Rapoport then emphasized how bringing the Veteran tight end into the team now could prove to be a little difficult.
He said, “We know they would like to bring Travis Kelce back. To do that, they gotta do it at a number that’s reasonable, and they gotta get under the cap, as they have some big numbers they can massage.”
From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: Among the challenges the #Chiefs face this offseason, being more than $50M over the cap is a big one. pic.twitter.com/cySF7VPyqE
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 14, 2026
According to Over The Cap’s salary cap for NFL teams, the Chiefs are doing the worst job of keeping their expenses in check when it comes to salaries. They are currently $54,910,166 over the approved base salary cap of $303,500,000.
It brings their number to a whopping $358,576,941. The team has only $215,641 in dead money, the lowest in the league. This means the team’s actually putting the money where it cannot be unfruitful. However, if they do not figure out a way out soon, they might just need to get their eyes off Kelce.
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Speaking of the impending cap danger, Rapoport said, “But it is a bit of a math problem now for the Kansas City Chiefs. It gives you an understanding why it’s challenging, say month for them to get under the cap and do some work. So that’s the bet. That’s the list you don’t wanna be on.”
