3 Chiefs Unlikely to Return in 2025 After Poor Start to Season

The Chiefs wrapped up an undefeated first month of the season and sit as the only 4-0 team in the AFC entering October. That being said, not every player is off to a hot start.

It's never too early for Brett Veach and his staff to start thinking about next year's roster, especially given the number of quality pending free agents Kansas City has. Patrick Mahomes' cap hit rises to north of $66 million in 2025 barring a restructure, so Veach will have to get creative with some of the bigger contracts on the roster.

We're starting to see a future vision take shape using the snap counts from September. With that in mind, let's look at three players unlikely to return next season.

3 Chiefs Unlikely to Return in 2025

1. Derrick Nnadi - DT

A 2018 third-round pick who has spent his entire career with the Chiefs, Derrick Nnadi has seemingly fallen out of favor in the defensive line rotation. After playing 46% of the snaps in 2023, he's down to 19% this year, last among the four interior linemen on the team.

Nnadi is on the last year of his contract and it appears that Tershawn Wharton, who had a phenomenal September, and Mike Pennel are firmly ahead of him. He has only two tackles thus far. Unless he earns more playing time moving forward, it's hard to see him re-signing to stick around.

An excellent run-stopper throughout his career, we've seen Nnadi's skills start to wane as he's gotten older. He'll be 29 years old next summer, and Veach typically prefers younger players, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.

With Wharton's emergence as a strong complement to Chris Jones, Nnadi's time with the organization is likely drawing to a close. If this is his last season in Kansas City, he'll leave with at least three Super Bowl rings pending this year's results.

During his seven-year career, he's compiled 224 tackles and five sacks with the opportunity to add to those totals over the next few months.