The Kansas City Chiefs will have some very difficult decisions to make this offseason after going just 6-11 and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
The biggest problem for the Chiefs — outside of the fact that Patrick Mahomes might miss the start of 2026 — is that they don’t exactly have a friendly salary cap situation at the moment.
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That could force Kansas City to make painful moves in the coming months, and Jesse Newell of The Athletic goes as far to say that the Chiefs might consider trading two-time All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie.
“The Chiefs already exercised his fifth-year rookie option for 2026 at $13 million. If they don’t plan to give him a long-term extension now, though, it would make sense to move him to another team that would be happy to lock in a young franchise corner for the foreseeable future,” Newell wrote.
Newell then added that Kansas City could net a massive haul for McDuffie.
“McDuffie would bring a healthy return,” Newell wrote. “The Jets just received two first-round picks when trading cornerback Sauce Gardner, and while McDuffie shouldn’t be considered at Gardner’s level, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the Chiefs to think he could bring back something in the range of a first-round pick.”
Given how highly cornerbacks are valued in today’s game, it’s possible that Kansas City could land a first-round pick and more in exchange for McDuffie, who is viewed among the best in the NFL at his position.
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Still just 25 years old, McDuffie has played four seasons with the Chiefs and has oddly never made a Pro Bowl, but he earned a First-Team All-Pro selection in 2023 and followed that up by notching Second-Team All-Pro honors in 2024.
McDuffie finished with 63 tackles, a sack, an interception and seven passes defended in 13 games this year.
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