The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to get back into Super Bowl contention after a down year in 2025. With guys like Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and head coach Andy Reid getting closer to the end of their careers, the Chiefs have to at least consider adding another playmaker, and there may not be a bigger talent left on the free agent market than wide receiver Stefon Diggs. The Chiefs definitely have concerns at his position.
There is a stereotype in the NFL that elite receivers are big-time divas, and Diggs certainly fits that mold, but there is no questioning his talent. Last season, at the age of 31, he had a fantastic season, putting up 85 receptions and his seventh 1,000-yard season of his career. He was a big part of the reason that Drake Maye had a breakout season and the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl.
Diggs was facing legal issues this offseason that likely kept him from being signed during the main free agent signing period back in March. He has since been found not guilty of the assault charges filed against him, and the NFL has announced that he won't face any suspension. Do the Chiefs want the headache of Diggs' personality? That's a question for another day, but is it even realistic for KC to be able to sign Diggs to a contract?
Can the Chiefs afford Stefon Diggs?
Whenever you talk about if a team can afford to sign a player, there is always the quick response of, "Teams can always make the cap work if they want to." While that is true to an extent, the Chiefs' window will hopefully be open for years to come with Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback, so they can't just mortgage their future for this season.
Diggs doesn't seem like the type that is likely to take a super team-friendly deal, so the Chiefs would likely have to pay him a competitive contract. Over the past five years, Diggs has averaged a cap hit of just $9.9 million. However, the cash paid to him over those same five years was an average of $21 million per year. So right away, you see that Clark Hunt would likely need to pay up front even if the Chiefs could make some magic work with the cap.
Diggs also left his previous four teams with an average dead cap hit of $16.6 million. So after getting a cap deal for him, they eventually parted ways and had to cover that discount on the back end. That back end is really the bigger problem for KC. The Chiefs do only have a little over $4 million in cap space right now, but the bigger complications would be next season.
If the Chiefs really want to sign Diggs, they have a couple of moves available that could clear up a sizable amount of cap space. Both Chris Jones and Trey Smith have base salaries of over $19 million that they could convert to bonuses and spread between the remaining years on their contracts. That could easily free up another $20 million in cap space this year, and as we've seen, Diggs has signed deals that didn't require cap hits that big, just up-front cash payments.
The problem is that the Chiefs are already an estimated $16 million over the cap for next season, and whatever cap space they free up by moving contract dollars around makes them that much more over the cap next season and takes away some of their flexibility to free up cap space next season when they want to get under the cap so they can sign players next year.
So the Chiefs could free up space and give Diggs a decent payday this season, but that makes next offseason more difficult. They could also sign him to a multi-year deal that has a smaller cap hit this season that they wouldn't have to move around much money for, but since Diggs will want a competitive average per-year amount for the contract, that just means they'd have to pay him a sizable signing bonus, and then his salary would balloon next season. So again, the cap situation would be worse next season; they'd just get there by a different path.
So the answer to the question of whether the Chiefs could afford to sign Stefon Diggs this season is definitely yes. However, the real question is if they can afford the cap ramifications of signing him beyond this year, and that is a much bigger question mark. Diggs would definitely increase the Chiefs' chances of winning a Super Bowl this coming season, but given the Chiefs' cap situation in 2027 and Diggs' history of wearing out his welcome quickly, it would be a move that they could easily regret if it didn't result in a 2026 Super Bowl win.
If the Chiefs want to add a 32-year-old receiver that could help them come playoff time, they would likely be better off waiting for Tyreek Hill to get healthy. Hill is more likely to cut the Chiefs a bit of a deal to come back and play with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid again. You mix in the fact that the Chiefs likely wouldn't have to even pay for a full season of work, and KC could get a reasonable deal for less than a season just so Hill can prove he's healthy for a payday next offseason while making another Super Bowl run with his old team.
I think all Chiefs fans would feel better about KC's wide receiver room in Week 1 if Stefon Diggs was added to the roster, but his long-term contract ramifications may not be what the Chiefs are looking for. We'll have to wait and see if Brett Veach agrees.
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