Kansas City

Chiefs

The former second-round pick was waived by the Patriots midseason and landed on Kansas City’s practice squad. He never made an appearance for the team but will get a shot at a roster spot this summer. The Chiefs also signed WR Justyn Ross, WR Jason Brownlee, S Deon Bush, TE Baylor Cupp, DT Siaki Ika, OT Chukwuebuka Godrick, DT Fabien Lovett, QB Chris Oladokun, CB Darius Rush, and CB Eric Scott to R/F deals.

“I’m gonna take some time to figure it out,” Kelce, 35, said Tuesday on his New Heights podcast. “And I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back that it’s gonna be a wholehearted decision and I’m not half-assing it, and I’m fully here for them.” In 2024, Kelce saw big drop offs in production and efficiency, finishing the season with the lowest yards per route run of his NFL career. He averaged 3.9 yards after the catch per reception, the lowest mark of his illustrious career with KC. Even so, Kelce trailed only Brock Bowers and Trey McBride in tight end catches last season. “I think I can play, it’s just whether or not I’m motivated or it’s the best decision for me as a man, as a human, as a person to take on all that responsibility,” Kelce said. If he steps away, the Chiefs would likely reconfigure their passing attack around Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice.

Coming off a surprising “career year” in 2023, Watson’s production declined across the board despite increased efficiency. Rashee Rice didn’t make it past Week 4, but Watson still never caught more than three passes in a game. He never caught more than two after Nov. 4. Not targeted during the playoffs, Watson is heading back to free agency two months shy of his 29th birthday. He’s always been a coaching staff favorite, but Watson might finally be at the end of the line in Kansas City.

Gray’s short grab was his lone target in a blowout loss. Coming off back-to-back solid seasons as the Chiefs’ No. 2 seam stretcher, Gray signed a new three-year deal on the eve of Week 1 and proceeded to post a career-best slash of 40/437/5 as Travis Kelce continued to decline. Gray’s five scores tied for ninth amongst tight ends, though his modest eight red zone targets suggest that number was a fluke. It was still an encouraging campaign for the 25-year-old with Kelce looking like a retirement candidate. Were that to transpire, Gray would suddenly be in the lower-end TE1 mix for a Chiefs skill corps that remains undermanned despite its continued Super Bowl appearances.

Back in Kansas City after an unsuccessful 2023 hiatus in New England, 28-year-old Smith-Schuster emerged as an injured Rashee Rice’s unlikely replacement in Week 5 only to suffer a hamstring ailment of his own. After erupting for 130 yards in that contest, Smith-Schuster would produce only 84 total yards upon returning from his muscle pull in Week 11. He was slightly more involved in the postseason, but this remains a player in terminal career decline. Heading back to free agency, the former Steelers phenom has just 491 yards over his past 25 regular season games.

Playing on a one-year deal, Hollywood’s season debut was delayed until Week 16 following a training camp shoulder injury that ended up requiring surgery following a failed attempt at rest and rehab. Limited to 15/91 across two regular season appearances, Brown’s production fell off a cliff during the postseason despite increased snap counts. With everything on the line, Brown was not a point of emphasis in the Chiefs’ stubbornly-conservative attack. Now heading back to free agency ahead of his age-28 campaign following an injury-washed season, Brown is at something of a career crossroads. The Chiefs could opt to move on and completely rebuild their troublesome receiver corps.

An UDFA out of UCLA, Steele ended up a fullback who wasn’t, primarily playing traditional running back. Limited to 63 uninspiring touches despite Isiah Pacheco’s nine-game absence with a broken leg, Steele seemed to lose the coaching staff’s trust on offense after losing two fumbles across his first four appearances. Although he remains eight months shy of his 23rd birthday, Steele did not demonstrate enough rookie upside to guarantee his 53-man roster spot for 2025.

Perine was held without a catch on one target in the blowout loss. Cut by the Broncos and signed by the Chiefs on the eve of Week 1, Perine’s usage fell off a cliff even with lead back Isiah Pacheco missing the majority of the season with a broken leg. Emergency free agent addition Kareem Hunt easily jumped Perine on the depth chart, though Perine did play him to a pass-catching standstill. Although he’s still somehow on the right side of 30 until September, Perine’s career appears to be on his last legs. Headed to free agency, he will have a hard time landing guaranteed money, and could end up having to wait to sign until teams assess their rosters in the early days of training camp.

Hopkins’ seven-yard garbage time score was just his second since Thanksgiving. Acquired from the Titans near the trade deadline, 32-year-old Hopkins had by far his least productive healthy campaign. The Chiefs took notice, phasing him out of the offense down the stretch. Hopkins caught all of three passes for 29 yards during the Chiefs’ three-game playoff run. His 1.71 yards per route run was by far his worst mark since 2016, when Brock Osweiler was the Texans’ primary quarterback. It placed 48th in PFF’s database. In steady decline for several years now, Hopkins is headed to free agency. We doubt he will be back in Kansas City considering the way he lost work down the stretch. Hopkins’ prodigious fantasy career is on its last legs.

By far the best game of Worthy’s uneven rookie season was too little, too late for a Chiefs team that fell behind 34-0, but does provide hope heading into next season his late-season hot streak was not a mirage. Worthy notched scores of 24 and 50 yards in the second half, with the 50-yarder coming against tight end zone coverage. The No. 28 overall pick of the draft, Worthy entered the league as an undersized (165 pounds) “role ‘tweener” who couldn’t decide if he was best deployed deep or in the short area. As was the case at Texas, the Chiefs split the difference, giving Worthy a middle of the pack “average targeted air yards” of 9.0. Worthy was also the recipient of frequent deep shots but struggled mightily down the field, catching just 4-of-18 targets 20-plus yards beyond the line of scrimmage. Lagging badly in nearly every efficiency metric, Worthy finally took off in a post-Thanksgiving Rashee Rice-type role, vacuuming up at least five receptions in each of his final seven appearances, including the playoffs. Still young (22 in April), Worthy now has invaluable experience and has demonstrated the ability to get better at the NFL level. His perch as one of Patrick Mahomes’ top-two pass catchers makes him an extremely valuable Dynasty league asset even if you’re not a big believer in his ultimate career ceiling.