The NFL season concluded on Super Bowl Sunday with the Seattle Seahawks’ victory. 31 other teams have been chomping at the bit to begin preparations for the 2026 season.
In just over a month, this year’s class of unrestricted free agents will be available to negotiate contracts with other teams on the open market. Wednesday, March 11th, is the first day of the new league year, although the “legal tampering” window opens on Monday of that week.
Before that, NFL teams will have to make decisions on which
pending free agents to use the Franchise Tag on. The window to designate that player is between February 17th and March 3rd.
The Kansas City Chiefs are already busy shaping up the roster for next season. For fans, the first step is knowing which players ended the season with the team, but are not on the 90-man offseason roster currently, as they prepare for free agency.
Here’s the list:
The Chiefs’ pending 2026 free agents
Tight end Travis Kelce
Linebacker Leo Chenal
Cornerback Jaylen Watson
Safety Bryan Cook
These are the headliners, with the question of retirement being an added layer to the top name on the list. Travis Kelce attended the festivities surrounding Super Bowl LXI, and the conversations from the week have created a report that he and the team will be communicating soon.
The remaining three players — all three starters on the Chiefs’ defense — should be seeking multi-year deals with long-term security. With Kansas City’s cap situation, it’s hard to imagine the Chiefs being the team to offer that to all three of them.
Wide receiver Hollywood Brown
Wide receiver Tyquan Thornton
Running back Kareem Hunt
Running back Isiah Pacheco
Wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster
This group of skill-position players will be interesting to follow. Through two seasons, Brown has not quite tapped into the impact he was projected to make with the Chiefs, whether it’s his health or his quarterback’s. He feels like a candidate for a one-year, prove-it deal again, even if it isn’t a return to Kansas City. It feels like he, Hunt and Smith-Schuster are in a similar boat.
On the flip side, wide receiver Tyquan Thornton could take advantage of an upstart fourth season as a second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. Even while it felt he could be featured more in the Chiefs’ pass offense, Thornton set career-high marks in receiving yards (438), touchdowns (3) and first downs (15). He led all qualified pass catchers with 23.1 yards per reception for the 2025 season.
Thornton may earn a payday on the open market, and it will be interesting to see if Pacheco has done enough in his career to secure a contract that suggests he will continue as a starting back in the league.
Defensive end Charles Omenihu
Defensive tackle Mike Pennel
Defensive tackle Jerry Tillery
Defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi
This group of veteran defensive linemen will be fascinating to follow. Multiple names on this list have been re-signed to one-year deals in past offseasons to continue in Kansas City. It’s clear guys like Pennel and Nnadi are trusted by the coaching staff, but younger players with more potential need to replace the roles filled by this group at some point.
Quarterback Gardner Minshew
Linebacker Jack Cochrane
Running back Dameon Pierce
Cornerback Joshua Williams
Cornerback Nazeeh Johnson
Tight end Robert Tonyan
Safety Mike Edwards
Safety Deon Bush
Defensive end Janarius Robinson
Long snapper James Winchester
This is the Chiefs’ unrestricted free agent class of 2026. Who do you think the team should re-sign? Which players feel more likely than others? Let us know in the comments and The Feed as we kick off free agency coverage this week.
