The Chiefs have started remaking their roster for the 2026 season by parting ways with a veteran defensive lineman.
The team posted a thank you message to defensive end Mike Danna on social media on Monday afternoon and multiple reports confirm that he has been released. Danna was set to enter the final year of the three-year contract he signed with Kansas City in 2024.
Danna’s departure will clear over $8.9 million in salary cap space while leaving over $2.16 million in dead money.
Danna was a 2020 fifth-round pick who appeared in 87 regular season games and 16 postseason games for the Chiefs. He had 221 tackles, 23.5 sacks, an interception, and seven forced fumbles during his time with the team.
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Running back Javonte Williams bet on himself last year, signing a one-year, $3 million deal. He delivered, with a career-high 1,200 rushing yards.
His reward was a three-year, $24 million deal to remain with the Cowboys.
Since the Williams deal was the first significant contract signed by a looming free agent, it’s important to remember a few things as we approach new-contract season. The initial reports routinely overstate the true value of the contract. For example, the reported $16 million in guarantees for Williams surely aren’t fully guaranteed at signing, and there’s little about the structure of the deal. There could be a little fudging at play to make the deal look better than it is, with the reporters who rush to Twitter with the early information rarely if ever insisting on full and accurate details. (If they do, someone else gets the scoop.)
For now, even the potentially inflated initial reporting reinforces an important point: The running back position continues to be undervalued.
The deal, if it’s truly worth $8 million per year, puts Williams at 16th among all current running backs. And while he took the offer before the annual tampering festival in Indianapolis, it’s believed that the offer the took was the best one he was going to get.
It’s also possible the Cowboys tried aggressively to get Williams signed before he could hit the market, perhaps by trotting out their CBA-violating practice of negotiating directly with the player. Or by making it clear that they’ll find another cheap veteran running back in the second or third wave of free agency, when players sign modest one-year deals.
Still, what would Williams have gotten on the open market? The absence of state income taxes in Texas are a factor. (Most players only care about APY, and that’s often a mistake.) Only the superstars at the position get market value. Eagles running back Saquon Barkley leads the way, at $20.6 million per year. 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey’s current deal has a new-money average of $19 million.
It happens for one very simple reason. The supply of capable running backs outweighs demand. Teams can resort to the draft for a younger, cheaper, and usually healthier player in lieu of paying a veteran who may not be able to duplicate his performance in a contract year.
Every year, college football generates plenty of running backs who can play at the NFL level, if they can be trusted to hold onto the ball and if they are able to pick up blitzers in pass protection. Most of them have their best years under slotted rookie contracts. When those expire, teams look for another young player to replace them.
The Williams contract gives other teams a data point that will become relevant to their negotiations with running backs. The other players who’ll be trying to get paid (Kenneth Walker III, Breece Hall, Travis Etienne, Rico Dowdle, Rachaad White, Isiah Pacheco, JK Dobbins) will have to deal with the argument that a guy who rushed for 1,200 yards in 2025 got only $8 million per year. (The counter would include that Williams isn’t much of a factor in the passing game, and that he lacks breakaway speed.)
Then there’s Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Currently eligible for a second deal, he has shown the kind of superstar ability that would justify a market-level contract.
And how about Falcons running back Bijan Robinson? Repeatedly called the best player in the entire league by his former head coach, Raheem Morris, Robinson will be in line for a superstar contract, too.
Will the Williams deal hold down what the Lions will offer Gibbs and what the Falcons will offer Robinson? It shouldn’t be a factor, at all. Gibbs and Robinson are far closer to Barkley and McCaffrey than the players who are hitting the market. Still, all running backs who are ready to become free agents will have to deal with the fact — as underscored by the Williams deal — that the running back market continues to be not what it could be, or perhaps what it should be.
The restaurant started by Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce is getting some free publicity, via an apparent effort by a largely unknown sneaker company to generate some free publicity.
Via Michael Rothstein of ESPN.com, 1587 Sneakers has sued Mahomes, Kelces, and their business partners over the 1587 Prime steakhouse in Kansas City.
The lawsuit contends that 1587 Sneakers brand began selling shoes in April 13, 2023, before 1587 Prime opened. However, 1587 Sneakers didn’t apply for the “1587" trademark until October 2025. 1587 Prime filed a trademark application in December 2023.
The companies have pursued trademark protections in different categories. 1587 Prime focuses on bars and restaurants, while 1587 Sneakers seeks a trademark in the clothing realm.
Complicating the situation is the fact that 1587 Prime also sells clothing. Also, 1587 Sneakers contends the customers have contacted the company under the misimpression that it’s affiliated with 1587 Prime.
Maybe we’re just missing something, but doesn’t that help 1587 Sneakers?
Then again, the lawsuit helps it, too. Because people who had never heard of 1587 Sneakers (like me) are now aware of it.
Travis Kelce may not be ready to spend plenty of time golfing from July to January.
Despite signs and signals that Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was ready to retire from pro football, current indications point to a fourteenth NFL season.
On Friday, Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters that the team and Kelce’s representatives are talking about a new deal.
“There is communication,” Reid said regarding negotiations with Kelce, via Nate Taylor of ESPN.com. “That’s the main thing. I’ve said this before: As long as there’s communication, I’m good. That means people want to move forward. I think that’s where Travis is.”
Reid then tapped the brakes, a bit.
“I’m not trying to put words in his mouth at all, and I try to give him some space here,” Reid said. “He’s been doing this a long time, and he can sort all that out as he goes forward. But we’re proceeding with that.”
Kelce is due to become a free agent for the first time in his career. There’s been no indication that he’s thinking about ending his career with another team. It most likely will be the Chiefs or no one.
Still, the price will have to be right. On one hand, Kelce doesn’t need the money; he’s making a lot more through his podcast and other endeavors. On the other hand, he’s not going to play for the minimum.
There’s a respect factor that reflects his value to the organization. And the Chiefs recently cleared $43 million in cap space by restructuring quarterback Patrick Mahomes’s contract.
Kelce seemed to be poised to retire a year ago, if the Chiefs had won a record third straight Super Bowl. He decided to continue. The return of Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator could be the thing that gets Kelce, 36, to give it another go.
He has the rest of his life to not play football. Once it’s done, it’s done. (Except for those who unretire.) If Kelce still enjoys it — and if he can still physically do it — why stop?
The clock is nevertheless ticking. If Kelce isn’t going to play in 2026, the Chiefs need to make other plans. And the official negotiating window for free agency opens in only 10 days.
Tyreek Hill is on the open market.
He’s posted himself working out in Kansas City.
The Chiefs could use some help offensively.
Eric Bienemy just returned to the organization as offensive coordinator.
Are you connecting the dots, too?
If it seems inevitable that Hill will rejoin the Chiefs at some point, head coach Andy Reid threw a little cold water on that notion during his Friday press conference.
“Yeah, listen, we go through everything and everybody. That’s how [G.M.] Brett [Veach] does,” Reid said. “I don’t even know if Tyreek is healthy right now to do anything. So, I’m sure he’s working hard on that part of it, trying to get that all straightened out.
“But yeah, listen, we talk about everything. So there’s nothing happening there, but we know what you know — that he’s out there and cranking away, trying to get himself back to where he can play, period.”
Hill suffered a torn ACL during in Week 4, prematurely ending his10th season. He caught 21 passes for 265 yards with one touchdown before the injury.
Two of Hill first-team, All-Pro selections for receiver came with the Chiefs — in 2018 and in 2020. He also was a first-team, All-Pro returner as a rookie in 2016.
In his six seasons with the franchise, Hill caught 479 passes for 6,630 yards with 56 touchdowns in 91 games. He also had 84 postseason receptions for 1,081 yards with five touchdowns in 13 games, winning Super Bowl LIV with the Chiefs to cap the 2019 season.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid will not be attending the scouting combine next week.
Reid told reporters in a Friday video conference that he recently had a procedure on his knee, so he will miss the festivities in Indianapolis.
“I’m on IR for about a second here,” Reid joked in his presser. “Not long.”
Reid noted that while the offseason has been longer than the Chiefs are accustomed to after missing the postseason for the first time since 2014 — and the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 2017 — there is a silver lining in having the No. 9 overall pick in the upcoming draft.
“You try to find some positives in sitting where you’re at and why you’re there and the positives are you get yourself geared down and get better,” Reid said. “So, this has a chance to help you get better. And that’s how [G.M.] Brett [Veach] feels and that’s the way he’s going about it.
“And nobody wants to be picking at ninth, but we are — that’s the reality of it. And so, you dig in and you put a plan together and go for it the best you can.”
On Monday, a new lawsuit accused Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice of multiple incidents of domestic violence. The complaint came to light on Wednesday. His lawyer has issued a statement regarding the situation.
“On October 9th, 2025, well after the parties’ relationship had ended, Ms. Jones stated under penalty of perjury in a sworn Affidavit for Non-Prosecution that ‘Mr. Rice and I had a verbal argument, but he did not punch me,’” attorney Sean Lindsey said, via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com. “We will allow the legal process to run its course and will have no further comment at this time.”
The statement raises several questions. What was the specific context of the creation of the affidavit? The reference to “non-prosecution” indicates that there had been some sort of potential criminal action against Rice that was resolved with Ms. Jones signing the affidavit.
How did the affidavit come to be? Who wrote it? Under what circumstances did Ms. Jones sign it? Was she represented by counsel at the time?
Also, the affidavit speaks to one specific incident: A verbal argument in which Rice did not punch her. It doesn’t seem to be a blanket statement as to any other potential incidents between them, including those contained in the lawsuit, which does not specifically accuse Rice of punching her.
Regardless, the lawsuit says what it says. It will be for Rice’s lawyers to try to use the affidavit to secure a dismissal of the complaint, or perhaps to instigate a perjury prosecution of Ms. Jones.
For now, it’s about P.R. But the quote from Lindsey hardly constitutes full exoneration of Rice for the conduct cited in the complaint.
Unfortunately, that’s the message the statement is attempting to send — aided by the decision to blast Lindsey’s statement without context or explanation on an 11-million follower Twitter firehose.
Earlier this year, domestic violence allegations against Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice surfaced on Instagram. New allegations have emerged against Rice in a lawsuit that was initiated earlier this week.
Via James Newell of The Athletic, the civil complaint filed Monday in Dallas County District Court includes the following contentions: “Defendant Rashee Rice and Plaintiff Dacoda Jones lived together. Following an escalation in violent behavior, in December, 2023, Defendant Rashee Rice strangled Plaintiff Dacoda Joans [sic] at their shared home in Victory Park, Texas. Defendant Rashee Rice continued to repeatedly assault[] Dacoda Jones over the course of their relationship through July, 2025. Defendant Rice has grabbed, choked, strangled, pushed, thrown, scratched, hit, and headbutted Ms. Jones, as well as hit her with inanimate objects. Additionally, he has engaged in other violent and abusive behaviors towards Ms. Jones, including throwing objects, destroying property, punching walls, and breaking furniture, as well as locking her out in the middle of the night. Many of these behaviors occurred while Ms. Jones was pregnant.”
The league previously commenced a review based on the allegations from Instagram. The league undoubtedly will expand the investigation to include the claims made in the new lawsuit.
Rice served a six-game suspension to start the 2025 season, following a guilty plea to a March 2024 street-racing incident. His history could result in enhanced penalties, if the league finds he violated the Personal Conduct Policy again.
The situation also potentially impacts Rice’s probation resulting from the street-racing incident. The agreement was announced in July; if any potential abuse occurred after the five-year period of probation commenced, he could face an argument that he violated the terms of his probation.
The Chiefs have added another coach on the defensive side of the ball.
The team announced the hiring of safeties coach Andre Curtis on Wednesday. Longtime defensive backs coach Dave Merritt remains on the staff as well.
Curtis was the defensive pass game coordinator for the Cowboys in 2025, but is moving on after the Cowboys dismissed defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus after one year on the job. Curtis was the safeties coach on Eberflus’s staffs with the Bears from 2022-2024.
Prior to his time in Chicago, Curtis spent seven seasons with the Seahawks and he’s also had stints with the Saints, Rams, and Giants since entering the NFL ranks in 2006.
It remains to be seen if Patrick Mahomes will be helping the Chiefs as their quarterback in Week 1 of the 2026 season, but a tweak to his contract will help the team’s financial outlook heading into the offseason.
Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com reports that the Chiefs have restructured Mahomes’s contract. They converted $54.45 million of his salary into a signing bonus, which cut his cap number from $78.2 to $34.65 million for the coming season.
Moving the money into future years will add over $10 million to Mahomes’s future cap numbers and he’s now set to have a cap hit of over $85 million for the 2027 season. He’s currently signed through 2031, so the Chiefs could continue to move money into the coming years or they could work on another extension that knocks that number down.
Mahomes tore his ACL in December and said recently that he’s aiming to be back in action for the start of the regular season. That storyline will take on greater importance as Week 1 draws closer.
