The Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in uncharted territory with their playoff hopes hanging by a tiny thread with four games still remaining on the schedule. It may be time for the Chiefs to shift gears from doing whatever they can to win this season to figuring out what offseason path can lead them back to Super Bowl contention.
Two of the biggest questions the Chiefs have to answer are what young players can be part of their future and how they manage the cap to maximize their potential going forward. Both of those questions lead us to Jeffrey Bassa and the Chiefs linebacker room. That linebacker room is currently led by Nick Bolton, Drue Tranquill, and Leo Chenal, but it may soon become difficult to keep that trio together.
A difficult LB situation unfolding in K.C.?
The Chiefs gave Nick Bolton a big payday before the start of this current season. Bolton is one of the leaders of the defense and is clearly a player that defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo trusts to run his defense the way he prefers. During the first year of his new contract, Bolton has a manageable $6.5 million cap hit. However, next season that jumps to $19.25 million.
The Chiefs are pretty much locked into that cap hit because the deal is only three years long. That means KC doesn’t have space to convert much of his base to bonus and stretch it out over the length of the deal. They might be able to move a million or two back a year, but that’s about it. So the Chiefs are going to have a very highly paid linebacker in 2026.
Regardless of how you feel about Bolton’s play on the field, his contract is already signed, so the question that matters is how much more money KC can spend at the position with Bolton’s high cap hit next year. This is a relevant question because Leo Chenal is going to be a free agent at the end of the year.
While Bolton may be Spagnuolo’s trusted brains/mouthpiece on the field, the linebacker with the most unique and hard-to-replace physical skill set is Chenal. He has the speed to play linebacker but the physical power to play off the edge and even plug gaps against interior offensive linemen. He’s a unique chess piece that gives KC’s defense some options to do different things with the same personnel.
Paying Chenal could be tough to do with Bolton’s inflated contract, but there is one option on the table that could clear a little space in the linebacker budget. Drue Tranquill will be going into the final year of his Chiefs contract next season, and with most of his guaranteed money gone, the Chiefs could save $6 million in cap space by cutting him, but that only makes sense if they feel they have a cheaper replacement for him in the starting lineup.
Could Jeffrey Bassa be the solution?
This is where Jeffrey Bassa comes in. The Chiefs took Bassa in the 5th round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Bassa was a converted safety in college who managed to mix solid coverage skills, sideline-to-sideline speed, and decent tackling. He would be an ideal replacement for Tranquill if he has what it takes to carry over his college game to the NFL. The problem is we haven’t had a chance to see if that is the case this season.
While Bassa has been active for all 13 regular-season games this year, he also only has 13 defensive snaps. That just isn’t enough to make any kind of judgment on him as a player. Some may want to argue that if the Chiefs aren’t playing him on defense, it’s because he isn’t showing them he is ready in practice. However, with this coaching staff, that isn’t always the case.
Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo are huge “system” guys. In other words, the guys they trust to know and run their system get the snaps over other players who may have more ability or upside. So Bassa could be flashing like crazy in practice, but as long as Drue Tranquill is a reliable veteran who plays the system the way Spags wants, he’s going to be the one who gets the reps. However, now that KC is a playoff longshot, it might be time for the coaching staff to reconsider things.
If the Chiefs want to re-sign Chenal and are already paying Bolton big money, they can’t afford Tranquill as well. If Bassa has the potential to replace Tranquill without much drop-off (or maybe even a slight upgrade due to his speed and coverage skills), then that would be a logical resolution. However, doing that without giving Bassa any real game experience to see how he handles it would be a gamble.
When the Chiefs are on a push to win the Super Bowl, it makes sense for the coaches to play the veterans they trust. They’ve won three Super Bowls that way, but this season is different. Things aren’t working like they used to, and it’s time for some new blood to revitalize the team. Nohl Williams should be playing every game at outside corner. Brashard Smith should be getting increased carries to see if he can be a bigger part of the running back solution next season. Jalen Royals should at least be active and getting some of Nikko Remigio’s return-man reps. And Jeffrey Bassa needs to prove he can be the heir to Tranquill’s linebacker spot. The question is whether the coaching staff is too stubborn to do it.