A long offseason has started for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, who are already seeing changes for the 2026 NFL season. Apart from losing a longtime member of Andy Reidās coaching staff to another team, the team has officially decided not to count on one of its quarterbacks of 2025 for next season.
On Monday, the NFLās daily transactions report showed that the Chiefs waived QB Shane Buechele, who had returned to Kansas City late in the 2025 campaign to provide depth behind Chris Oladokun with Mahomes and Gardner Minshew injured.
Buechele, who had already been part of the same QB room as Mahomes and Oladokun by spending 2021 and 2022 in Kansas City, was signed off the Buffalo Billsā practice squad by the Chiefs before their Week 17 game against the Denver Broncos on Christmas.
The SMU product got to see the field in Week 18, completing 7 of 14 passes for 88 yards while taking five sacks in the Chiefsā 12-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in the 2025 NFL regular season finale.
Shane Buechele and Patrick Mahomes celebrating.
Now, heās free to finish the season elsewhere, perhaps with a franchise that reached the playoffs. The Bills are among the teams that made the postseason, and since Buechele is familiar with the system, a return to the practice squad would make sense.
Chiefs QB room for 2026 with Mahomes recovering from injury
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With no football for months, the Chiefs didnāt need Buechele anymore. However, theyāll probably have to make at least one addition to their QB room when the new league year starts to prepare for training camp and preseason.
Mahomes may have already started rehab to recover from his torn ACL and LCL, but his return is slated for September. Minshew, who signed a one-year deal to be his backup in 2025, is among the Chiefs free agents in 2026.
This leaves Oladokun as the only healthy quarterback under contract with the Chiefs entering 2026. Therefore, the team might attack free agency or the draft to add at the position, even if Mahomes makes it on time for Week 1.
Chiefs make other contract decisions
Buechele wasnāt the only Chiefs player who was given the chance to join a playoff team, with safety Tanner McCallister also free to sign elsewhere after seeing his practice squad contract terminated.
However, the Chiefs decided to sign four players to reserve/future contracts before their practice squad deals expired. The players returning to Kansas City are LB Kam Arnold, DT Marcus Harris, WR Jimmy Holiday, and OT Matt Waletzko.
They could be part of the bright future Reid sees in Kansas City, a message the head coach let Matt Nagy and Steve Spagnuolo hear amid growing speculation on his coaching staff for 2026.
