For the first time in what feels like forever, the Kansas City Chiefs aren't controlling the AFC West, or the AFC for that matter, heading out of the 2025 season. As far as the LA Chargers are concerned, the Chiefs' potential downfall is the birth of opportunity.
The rest of the league is taking notice as well. Los Angeles is the favorite to win the AFC West next season after Kansas City missed the playoffs and lost Patrick Mahomes to a torn ACL late in the year. Denver Broncos be damned, Las Vegas thinks the AFC West goes through SoFi Stadium.
But even though they aren't scary in the slightest on paper, Chargers fans are still peering over their shoulder expecting the Chiefs to track them down. Because of that callus, the gut instinct for Chargers fans when they hear that Mahomes restructured his contract to create $43.56 million in cap space is fear.
In reality, there is nothing to be afraid of. Mahomes restructuring his deal isn't so the Chiefs can load up in 2026 and make a run at the AFC West again. It's a desperation move by a team running out of options with a check that's coming due.
Patrick Mahomes' restructure shows Chiefs desperation that Chargers fans should love
Kansas City enters the 2026 offseason with one of the worst salary-cap situations in the sport. It's so bad that even after this restructure, the Chiefs are projected to be $11 million over next year's cap. Only four teams have more cap commitments in 2026 even after the Mahomes deal.
The Chiefs won't stop at Mahomes. They likely will look to restructure Chris Jones as well as explore potential cut candidates. Kansas City doesn't just have to get under the projected salary-cap figure, they have to create enough space to actually pay their own draft class this upcoming season.
Spotrac estimates Kansas City's draft class to carry a combined $12.5 million cap hit in 2026. More moves are clearly ahead.
And best of all for Chargers fans, the Chiefs are forced to do this in a season where making the playoffs is a tall order. This is arguably the least talented Chiefs roster of Mahomes' career and without him for most of the season, it's hard to imagine the team building up enough equity to go on some miracle run in the winter if Mahomes can return within a year.
Thus, Kansas City is moving all this money around in a year where they might be bad anyway. That only pushes the bill to future years, which will make it harder for the team to build up a roster around Mahomes. With this move, Mahomes has a projected cap hit of $85.2 million. The next three years are all above $50 million.
It doesn't matter how great the quarterback is; it's really hard to build a complete roster when one player has a cap hit that is similar to an entire NHL franchise.
The Chiefs aren't restructuring Mahomes out of a place of strength. They are restructuring him out of a place of weakness. The Evil Empire is starting to show cracks, and now it's up to the Chargers to take advantage.