{"id":775565,"date":"2026-02-25T14:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/775565\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T14:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:19:20","slug":"chiefs-to-have-extension-talks-with-trent-mcduffie-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/775565\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs to have extension talks with Trent McDuffie this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past few offseasons have seen the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> work tirelessly to keep a Super Bowl-caliber roster together.<\/p>\n

During his press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, general manager Brett Veach appeared resigned that this offseason would see higher roster turnover. One player the team hopes to keep in the fold is cornerback Trent McDuffie.<\/p>\n

The team traded up to the 21st overall pick to select McDuffie in the 2022 NFL Draft. While nominally tied to Kansas City for the 2026 season under a fully guaranteed $13 million fifth-year option, McDuffie is widely expected to be traded this spring if the Chiefs cannot hammer out an extension with him.<\/p>\n

Veach revealed that those talks have been ongoing and should pick up in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a lot of dialogue with Trent last spring and last summer,\u201d remarked Veach. \u201cHe\u2019s first out of the gate, I think, tomorrow. Looking forward to getting with him. Obviously, Trent\u2019s a great player, and we\u2019ll see what we can do there. We\u2019d certainly love to have Trent back for the long term.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chiefs have a long list of pending free agents \u2014 including fellow 2022 draftees in safety Bryan Cook, linebacker Leo Chenal, and cornerback Jaylen Watson. Whether they ultimately return to Kansas City is up in the air and is subject to multiple variables.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s kind of a puzzle,\u201d Veach offered. \u201cI think with a lot of our players \u2014 I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any one of our free agents we look at and say we don\u2019t want these guys back \u2014 they\u2019re really good players. We\u2019ve won a lot of games with them. It\u2019s just a matter of trying to put the puzzle together, what else is going to be out there, their price points, and kind of fitting the whole thing together. What we do is we just kind of remain in contact and keep that dialogue open. All those players you\u2019d mention \u2014 the Chenals, the Cooks, the Watsons \u2014 all these guys we\u2019re monitoring, and we\u2019re trying to get as many back as we can. Obviously, it\u2019s unrealistic to think you will. But we have to be able to go in different directions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NEW<\/a><\/p>\n

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – FEBRUARY 09: Bryan Cook #6 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates an interception with Jaylen Watson #35 in the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles during Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome on February 09, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jamie Squire\/Getty Images) Getty Images<\/p>\n

While all could be considered likely to find new teams when free agency opens next month, Veach knows that things can change quickly in the NFL personnel world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s sometimes where you don\u2019t think a guy\u2019s going to come back here,\u201d he explained. \u201cThen, all of the sudden, because you either didn\u2019t execute something or someone else took a different deal, thing open back up. I think you need to remain flexible and fluid during the situation but always have layers of backup plans when you enter this part of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

A major consideration is the NFL\u2019s salary cap. Per Spotrac, Kansas City is about $6.3 million over the expected limit<\/a> two weeks before the start of the 2026 league year. The Chiefs\u2019 number was almost $9 million further in the red before this week\u2019s release of veteran defensive end Mike Danna<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Veach explained that the reason for moving on early from Danna, a fifth-round selection of the 2020 draft, was respect for the player.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike Danna was a little unique and different,\u201d Veach stated. \u201cMike Danna was in the building this week. I had a chance to talk to Mike. You guys know Mike. He is as good as it gets \u2014 just a tremendous player and person. I have a lot of respect for him, and I wanted him to just have that opportunity, since I saw him this weekend, to just let him go out there and see what his market is. We\u2019ll remain in contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most expect the Chiefs\u2019 next moves for salary cap compliance to include releasing right tackle Jawaan Taylor and possibly veteran linebacker Drue Tranquill. The moves would open a combined $26 million in cap savings.<\/p>\n

Veach did not rule out the possibility of moving on from either player. However, Kansas City\u2019s disciplined approach in recent years does allow for, at least a momentary, shift in philosophy on moving salary cap charges into future seasons. He implied the Chiefs may be more open to maximum restructures of existing contracts than in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with guys like Jawaan and Drue Tranquil, who someone asked me about earlier,\u201d Veach noted, \u201cthese guys started for us, and they played a lot of football for us. Our cap situation \u2014 I don\u2019t know if we are six or seven [million] over \u2014 but I think we have $60 million in convertible contracts too. So, we have many different ways to attack this. I think that\u2019s the one thing we\u2019ve been good at. We don\u2019t do a lot of money pushed down to future years, and I think we run a pretty tight ship there. So, this gives us flexibility to do different things. Again, I think that\u2019s part of the process with all those guys, and we\u2019ll see how the scenarios shake out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The past few offseasons have seen the Kansas City Chiefs work tirelessly to keep a Super Bowl-caliber roster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,2439,922,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-775565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-free-agency","13":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","14":"tag-kansascity","15":"tag-kansascitychiefs","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116131710987725951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}