‘4 Downs’ with Rich: the Kansas City Chiefs’ Biggest Questions Heading into the ‘26 NFL Season

It is rare that the Chiefs show up this early in the Four Downs rotation. That is the point. Kansas City did not have a great final record last season, in what Rich called a very disappointing, injury-marred 2025. So here are his four biggest questions for the 2026 Chiefs.

**First down: will they dare have a 1,000-yard rusher?**

Rich asked it with a laugh, because it has been a while. Kareem Hunt was the last one to do it, and it was not Kareem Hunt 2.0. It was his first run with the team.

Kansas City went into free agency and got Kenneth Walker, the Super Bowl MVP out of Seattle, which is a real answer to a real problem. But look at the depth chart and Hunt is not on it anymore, which will surprise people who assumed he was still around. Behind Walker is Emmett Johnson, the fifth-round pick out of Nebraska, and then Emari Demercado, whom a lot of folks recall from Arizona, as the third stringer.

What the run game actually looks like is question one.

**Second down: the secondary going back to the future.**

L'Jarius Sneed is back. Kansas City also drafted the replacement for Trent McDuffie, and Rich is high on him. Mansoor Delane was one of the best corners to come out of the draft in some time, and there are plenty of people who think he is a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. Rich wants to see what Spags can do with him.

The pressure on those kids is simple math. If the front cannot get home, the back end gets tested. Chris Jones is getting longer in the tooth, though Rich considers him a first-ballot Hall of Famer regardless. George Karlaftis is sitting right there. Nick Bolton is in the middle of it. Rich is curious about how Brett Veach's remade back end holds up.

**Third down: can the offense be explosive again?**

Everybody is wondering, and Rich thinks the answer runs almost entirely through one player.

"It all depends on can they trust and count on Rashee Rice," he said.

Rich did not soften it much. He called Rice nothing but a disappointment on availability and off-the-field decisions, and noted that is the light-touch version. Can they get him on the field, keep him on the field, and will Rice keep himself on the field?

Because behind him it is Xavier Worthy, Tyquan Thornton, and a receiver room full of guys most people have not heard of.

**Fourth down: how healthy and how pissed off is Patrick Mahomes?**

This is the one Rich actually cares about. The league has spent the offseason talking about a closed dynastic window. An unnamed group of league voters put Josh Allen at the top of the quarterback list, with Mahomes at number two, and Rich went along with it, in part because he needs to see the health first.

He thinks Mahomes is out there week one. What he wants is the attitude.

"Let's get that red ass back out there, man," Rich said.

He wants the version who hears that Denver owns the division now and that the Chargers have everybody, and responds by reminding the sport who he is. Rich even scripted it: I'm Patrick Mahomes, these are the Kansas City Chiefs, that's Andy Reid, and I'm pissed. And healthy.

That, more than the running back room or the rookie corner, is the decisive factor in whether the Chiefs are back.

For what it is worth, the Chiefs are still favored to win the division. Rich is here for it.