Travis Kelce announces retirement, Trey Smith leaves – Kansas City Chiefs' nightmare offseason

The Kansas City Chiefs saw their three-peat dream go up in smoke as their season ended with a Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

With a 15-2 record and an impressive playoff run, the Chiefs were set to make history at Super Bowl LIX if they won.

However, Jalen Hurts' Eagles had other plans as they ran rampant at the Caesar Superdome in New Orleans, going 34-0 up with no response from Patrick Mahomes and his offense.

The majority of the Chiefs' 22 points scored came in the fourth quarter when a lot of the starting Eagles defense had been pulled out of the game, showcasing a dominant performance for the NFC Champions over the then-reigning Super Bowl champions.

But Andy Reid and his players won't want to dwell on this loss for too long, as they have business to do in the offseason to ensure the Chiefs get back to winning ways in 2025.

However, there are a lot of working parts in the running of Kansas City, and many things could fall out of place if just one cog gets loose in the system.

Veteran tight end Kelce is yet to decide on his future with the Chiefs, as the longtime Arrowhead faithful mulls over his options during the offseason.

The 35-year-old is contracted to the team for the 2025 season, and has had extreme success with the Chiefs during his 12-year career with them.

During this time, Kelce has won three Super Bowls, been named to the All-Pro team on four occasions, made 10 Pro Bowl appearances, and was also placed on the NFL 2010s All-Decade team alongside some stellar names.

However, he struggled in his latest Super Bowl appearance, rushing for just 39 yards on four targets and no score.

While speaking with his brother Jason - who retired from the NFL in 2024 - on their New Heights podcast, he admitted that he is delaying the decision of retirement until he is sure.

He said: "I know everybody wants to know whether I'm playing next year and, right now, I'm just kicking everything down the road.

"I'm kicking every can I can down the road.

I'm not making any crazy decisions.

I've been fortunate over the past five, six years I've played more football than anybody.

"The fact that we keep going to these AFC championships and these Super Bowls, that means I'm playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league.

That's a lot of wear and tear on your body." Kelce added: "I think I owe it to my team-mates that if I do come back, it's going to be a whole-hearted decision.

Not half-assing it.

I'm fully here for them and I think I could play.

It's just whether or not I'm motivated or it's the best decision for me as a man, as a human and as a person to take on all of that responsibility." However, The Athletic has reported that Reid and the Chiefs' staff have given him a deadline for his retirement decision.

As the team heads into an offseason full of hard work and difficult roster decisions, Kelce is expected to choose to retire or stick with the Chiefs by March 14.

Should he choose to hang up his helmet, the Chiefs will be losing a major part of their offensive roster.

Despite his poor Super Bowl performance, Kelce had another record-breaking season in 2024.

During the campaign, he became the fastest tight end in NFL history to reach 12,000 career receiving yards.

The veteran athlete also became the Chiefs' leader in career receptions, surpassing Tony Gonzalez's previous record of 916.

By Christmas Day last year, Kelce achieved his 1,000th career reception and became the Chiefs' all-time leader in receiving touchdowns.

Losing him would understandably be huge for Mahomes and the rest of the offense, and his consistency in catching and scoring will be difficult to replace.

Another very important player who could be heading out of Arrowhead this offseason is lineman Trey Smith.

The offensive guard has been with the Chiefs for just four seasons, but he has become an integral part of protecting Mahomes on the field.

The two-time Super Bowl champion has become a free agent and is able to sign with other franchises unless the Chiefs offer him a new contract.

While many couldn't imagine any reason why the right guard would move from Kansas City, Pro Football Network reports that the team has a very small amount of cap space in 2025.

This means that other NFL teams - with much more wiggle room in terms of contract money - could make a move for Smith and pay him a lot of money to move on from the team that drafted him.

He could join many teams seeking line help, such as the Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, or Chicago Bears - all of which have more cap space than the Chiefs.

Losing him would be a big deal given how weak the offensive line was during the Super Bowl.

Mahomes was sacked six times - the most in any game of his entire career - and was pressured on 40% of his dropbacks, as the Chiefs seemingly didn't have an answer for the Eagles' spectacular defense.

One place that the Chiefs could have some success this offseason would be the NFL Draft - but their picks aren't lined up as well as some other teams.

Before any trades are completed, Kansas City has the following picks: a 31st overall pick, one second-round pick, two third-round picks, one in the fourth and fifth rounds, and two in the seventh round.

Should Kelce retire and Smith leave, the Chiefs must replace these players before adding any power to either side of the ball.

Should they prioritize the tight end and offensive line positions, the Chiefs will pick their newest recruits from the third round onwards.

But Kansas City's cap space is also bleak, as they have the ninth-lowest amount of space in the league, with just $11.5 million available.

In comparison, the Patriots have an eye-watering $123M of cap space available and nine picks in the draft compared to the Chiefs' eight.

Sportrac reports that even the current reigning Super Bowl champions, the Eagles, have more cap space than the Chiefs - with $24.5M at their disposal.

This means that retaining talent will be more difficult for head coach Reid and his backroom staff, and some of their Draft targets may head elsewhere given their low position on the order.

The recruitment experts will have to work some magic in free agency and the Draft to give Reid some talent to work with so he can get the Chiefs back to the top of the NFL..

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