Only 3 NFL teams have this feature. Why it’s the Chiefs’ path out of their mess
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Chiefs opened 0-2 as high-paid stars struggled to deliver key plays.
- Top earners like Jones, Kelce and Karlaftis failed to meet performance norms.
- Kansas City’s roster strategy relies on elite output from its costliest players.
The opening night in Brazil became a blunder for a number of reasons, but here the Chiefs sat, one third-down stop shy of putting the ball back in the hands of Patrick Mahomes, trailing by six with two minutes to play. And who would bet against that?
A Super Bowl rematch in Week 2 became a blunder for a number of reasons, but here the Chiefs sat, one completion shy of taking a fourth-quarter lead against the defending champions, the best quarterback in football seeing his favorite target open at the goal line. And who would bet against that?
This column isn’t about the tight margins between winning and losing, or how the first 0-2 start in the Patrick Mahomes Era could really be looking far more similar to the past several years.
It’s about the reasons why the most consequential plays in those two losses went against the Chiefs, and how they both pivoted on the same thing:
Star players.
Let me rewind. There’s a misconception that the Chiefs endured a quiet offseason this year. I’ll even fuel that misconception with a statistic: Did you know the Chiefs did not start a single 2025 free-agent signing in their game Sunday against the Eagles? Seriously, not one.
But, no, it wasn’t a quiet offseason. The Chiefs allocated $227 million to three players alone, $109 million of it in guaranteed salary, which doubled down on something that’s been true for awhile now.
The Chiefs’ stars have to perform.
Or else.
Kansas City has nine players with contracts holding an annual average value (AAV) of at least $15 million per year apiece — quarterback Patrick Mahomes, defensive tackle Chris Jones, right guard Trey Smith, defensive end George Karlaftis, right tackle Jawaan Taylor, center Creed Humphrey, tight end Travis Kelce, linebacker Nick Bolton and tackle Jaylon Moore. (That’s in order.)
There is no NFL team that tops that number. The Eagles and 49ers, like the Chiefs, also have nine.
The Chiefs also have five players with at least $20 million AAV, third most in the league behind the Eagles and Lions.
Those other teams have played in prominent games over the last few years, too. It can be a winning strategy — when those players perform.
With the way they’ve built the roster, particularly top-heavy, the Chiefs are reliant on their core to show up at a high level every week. And an 0-2 start has revealed a couple of things.
1. For all of the noise about what’s wrong with the Chiefs, nothing is more simple than this: Those star players haven’t held up their end of the bargain through two weeks.
2. When No. 1 on the list is true in a league with a salary cap, the result isn’t often pretty.
You already know the second item is true. The record is the record.
The argument for the first item:
• Chris Jones (second in the team’s AAV to Mahomes) is the subject of the first sentence of this column. He lost contain on Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert, allowing the L.A. quarterback to scramble for a game-sealing first down.
But this isn’t just about one play. Jones isn’t winning in the pass rush. He has a pressure rate of just 7.0%, per Next Gen Stats. That number has never been lower than 11.8% for Jones in a single season. He is tied for 33rd in pressures among interior defensive lineman. He’s finished in the top five every year since 2018.
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said Thursday that their internal analytics showed Jones was double-teamed on 65% of his snaps against the Eagles.
Which, OK, but ...
• If one of your defensive linemen is getting double-teamed that frequently, then the edges have to win, because they’re likely seeing one-on-one. And George Karlaftis — as in the edge player guaranteed $32 million just a day before training camp and now ranking fourth on the team in AAV — has one of the lowest win rates and lowest quick pressure rates in the league among edges this season. Two defensive linemen are among the Chiefs’ best-compensated players, and they’ve been relatively quiet.
• The subject of the second paragraph in this column is about Travis Kelce (seventh in AAV), whose drop against Philadelphia is the most critical play the Chiefs have had this season. That’s not my opinion but statistically true. The drop-turned-interception plummeted the Chiefs’ win probability Sunday against the Eagles from 53% to 24%, per the rbsdm.com model. And that gap is really quite larger, considering it doesn’t account for what should have resulted from the play: a touchdown.
• Jawaan Taylor, the fifth-highest AAV, has been called for six penalties, most in the NFL. It’s more than double all but five other players in the league.
• The only two high-priced free agent signings the Chiefs did make — tackle Jaylon Moore and cornerback Kristian Fulton — have combined for 23 snaps.
• Nick Bolton, eighth in AAV, allowed five catches on five targets in the season-opening loss against the Chargers.
That list accounts for six of the nine Chiefs making at least $15 million annually. The only three I’ve not mentioned: Patrick Mahomes and two offensive linemen, Trey Smith and Creed Humphrey. Even the two linemen have been graded at career-lows through two weeks.
This is what it looks like when the stars don’t perform like stars. It’s been only two weeks, so if you’re inclined to think optimistically, well, the Chiefs have been in both games despite all of the above.
And there’s a reason these nine players are paid handsomely. There’s a history of performance in the past.
The Chiefs desperately need it to be part of their present.