{"id":291019,"date":"2026-07-06T14:42:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=291019"},"modified":"2026-07-06T14:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:42:59","slug":"nfl-rumors-chiefs-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/07\/06\/nfl-rumors-chiefs-prediction\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Rumors: Analyst’s Bold Prediction May Ignite Shocking $34M Departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest NFL rumors and projections surrounding the Kansas City Chiefs this upcoming 2026 season could lead to a shocking mutual departure. Ben Solak of ESPN made ten bold predictions<\/a>, including the Chiefs missing the postseason again, as he believes the latest improvements won’t be enough. It’s fair to think this way; while they got Rashee Rice<\/a> back in the offensive fold, QB Patrick Mahomes is lacking star power in the passing unit. While they signed RB Kenneth Walker<\/a> to give them a massive upgrade after Isiah Pacheco left for the Lions and veteran Kareem Hunt is still a free agent, they need someone to step up to help Xavier Worthy, who’s shown improvement in minicamp.<\/p>\n

With all of the lingering issues, including losing Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, expect the Chiefs to barely make the postseason. This could spark the end of veteran TE Travis Kelce in Kansas City. After getting married to pop star Taylor Swift<\/a>, there probably won’t be much time left in his NFL career. Before signing his contract extension, it was rumored he may join another team, but could that happen during the 2026 season?<\/p>\n

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Main Photo: Joe Rondone\/The Republic-USA TODAY NETWORK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NFL Rumors: Analyst’s Bold Prediction May Ignite Shocking $34M Departure<\/h2>\n

Trade Request?<\/h3>\n

Nobody should believe that a trade request could happen, but as crazy as it might sound, a mutually agreed-upon release may be likely. Mahomes is no longer the same mobile pocket-passer everyone remembers, despite the Chiefs paying him like so. He isn’t going anywhere with the latest contract extension. However, it’s time for the Chiefs to move in a different direction if they want to rebuild the best supporting cast for their QB.<\/p>\n

Unless they can pull off a massive trade for Carolina Panthers WR Xavier Legette<\/a> or New Orleans Saints WR Chris Olave<\/a>, expect Kansas City to have the same result as last year. Between Worthy, Rice and Tyquan Thornton, it’d be best not to assume the best-case scenario for this offense. Mahomes will probably lean on his backfield unit, but as said before, they need a wide receiver, at least in free agency. Tyreek Hill, Keenan Allen and Deebo Samuel are the top options to save this offense.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Possible Next Teams for Kelce<\/h3>\n

Carolina Panthers<\/h4>\n

The Carolina Panthers are in the market for an experienced tight end to boost this offense for QB Bryce Young. Between Tommy Tremble and Ja’Tavion Sanders, the team has one of the worst tight end groups. After drafting WR Chris Brazzell<\/a>, the Panthers are almost there in having one of the most underrated pass-catching units. The Chiefs won’t trade Kelce, but he could join Carolina depending on how hot the Panthers are during the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Will he fully trust Young? It probably won’t matter as long as the current Chiefs TE wins one last Super Bowl. Young has the supporting cast between Tetairoa McMillan<\/a>, Jalen Coker and RB Chuba Hubbard to put this roster in the NFC Championship Game.<\/p>\n

Detroit Lions<\/h4>\n

Meanwhile, with the expectation of moving Sam LaPorta<\/a>, the Lions could entertain bringing in Kelce if released. Detroit missed the postseason last year but could boost their chances in the 2026 campaign by pairing the Chiefs TE with LaPorta. QB Jared Goff is one step closer to a Super Bowl, but they’d need another pass-catcher, especially behind Isaac TeSla, Jameson Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown.<\/p>\n

Denver Broncos<\/h4>\n

After the Broncos traded for former Dolphins superstar Jaylen Waddle<\/a>, the team getting Kelce wouldn’t be too surprising. Head Coach Sean Payton wants to win a championship for the first time in Denver. Evan Engram had one of the worst seasons last year, while Troy Franklin, Marvin Mims and Courtland Sutton thrived. Kelce won’t single-handedly carry this offense, but he can definitely guide Bo Nix to his first Super Bowl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One prominent analyst in the latest NFL rumors made a bold prediction of the Kansas City Chiefs 2026 season, and it may lead to a departure. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4795,"featured_media":291021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<\/smartframe-embed>","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,30,15,24,16,6431],"tags":[7739,7467,1692,32193,246,5812,7661,9716,9621,7998,339],"class_list":["post-291019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-panthers","category-broncos","category-lions","category-chiefs","category-nfl-teams","tag-carolina-panthers-news","tag-detroit-lions-news","tag-evan-engram","tag-lastest-nfl-news","tag-nfl-news","tag-nfl-rumors","tag-panthers-featured","tag-rashee-rice","tag-sam-laporta","tag-tommy-tremble","tag-travis-kelce"],"modified_by":"Anthony Palacios","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291019"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":291085,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291019\/revisions\/291085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}