Kansas City Chiefs coaches continue to send mixed messages about giving fans what they want most as 2025 NFL season wraps
The Kansas City Chiefs’ coaching staff still doesn’t seem willing to flip the page to 2026 with their personnel choices.
Kansas City Chiefs fans remain frustrated with some of the team’s personnel decisions as the 2025 NFL season wraps up. With no postseason left to play for in the final three weeks of the regular season, there seemed to be some expectation that the team would shift its focus to 2026. That hasn’t happened as of Week 16, with numerous veterans receiving playing time over rookies and new players who could play a significant role in the team’s future.
Chiefs RB Dameon Pierce, for instance, was a healthy scratch in Week 16 despite being signed to the 53-man roster from the practice squad. Pending free agents Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt were both given opportunities to play over Pierce and rookie RB Brashard Smith in Week 16. Asked about Pierce getting a chance in Week 17’s Christmas Day game against the Denver Broncos, Chiefs HC Andy Reid delivered some disappointing news.
“Probably not this week,” Reid said of Pierce. “Yeah, probably not this week, but we’ll see about the following weekend.”
The Chiefs are still hesitant to play their young & new players
Pierce and Hunt weren’t the only young players to not get chances in Week 16’s game. On offense, Jared Wiley played two snaps, Hunter Nourzad played one snap, and rookie WR Jalen Royals just one snap.
Asked about what it would mean to get Royals some extra opportunities in the next two weeks, Chiefs OC Matt Nagy seemed to suggest that could happen. However, it remains to be seen if it actually will.
“Yeah, I don’t think it hurts at all,” Nagy said of Royals. “I think it’d be good for him to get some reps and get out there and see what he can do. He had a great preseason for us. It’s been, like I said before, a little bit of a red shirt year for him, but he has a lot of talent, and you saw it on tape where in school, and then he put it in on in the preseason—unfortunately, he had a little bit of that injury he had to fix at the front end. But I think now’s a good time to be able to try to get him some reps, and we’re trying to do that. And it’s never easy, but for sure, it’s something that we want to do.”
The word “try” will strike a chord because Nagy is one of the decision-makers who can make it happen. The idea that it’s not easy to integrate and play a player who has been in the system since May lends itself to the theory that the current iteration of Andy Reid’s offense is overly complicated.
It felt like the same thing on the defensive side of the ball in some ways, with DC Steve Spagnuolo’s comments on rookie LB Jeffrey Bassa. He’s played a grand total of 13 defensive snaps, back in Week 7 and Week 8 of the 2025 NFL season. Last week felt like the perfect opportunity to get him some more work, but he was one of three defenders to play only special teams snaps.
“No, I mean, we’ve got everybody ready to go in this particular game,” Spagnuolo said. “We’ll see how the game goes and which way we go with the substitutions. But you know, just like Jack (Cochrane) got some snaps last week, and Cooper McDonald did, I think Jeff (Bassa), we’ll try to work him in there as well.”
It does make a little sense, given the team was down and starting SAM linebacker Leo Chenal, that Cochrane and McDonald would get the nod over Bassa. However, the frustration stems from the fact that the young guys aren’t getting opportunities over veterans who might not be here in 2026. The team hasn’t turned the page on the season yet, even though they very clearly should.
When Spagnuolo was asked about defending Broncos WR Courtland Sutton in Week 17, he mentioned Kristian Fulton, Nohl Williams, and Josh Williams. He failed to mention one of the team’s recent fill-ins at nickel cornerback: Kevin Knowles.
Knowles played 18 defensive snaps in Week 16 vs. the Titans, which was one more snap than slumping second-year S Jaden Hicks. Will Knowles get some opportunities to play the nickel spot in Week 17, with Trent McDuffie likely to be sidelined due to a knee injury? Steve Spagnuolo says Knowles has been a pleasant surprise, but his answer on his opportunities in Week 17 was hardly definitive.
“He’s been a great surprise,” Spagnuolo said of Knowles. “I mean, I don’t see all the special teams, but every once in a while, when I look out there, especially when we’re kicking off, because getting ready to go out, I’ve seen him make some all of a sudden, there goes 38, he’s making a tackle. And he’s filled in there at nickel for us, which we didn’t really expect. And I think he’s done a solid job. I’m hopeful that he gets more reps and proves that he’s a really good football player. He’s a free agent that came in here and made the football team.”
The fact that one of the team’s decision-makers, who plays a role in deciding who gets and doesn’t get repetitions, is “hopeful” that a player will get more opportunities doesn’t seem particularly promising. For Knowles, however, he might get those repetitions out of necessity, given that they don’t have a lot of healthy guys who can play the nickel spot.
Others might not be so lucky.
Maybe there is some coaching psychology to not putting players out before they’re ready because it could stunt their growth. However, it sure feels like the Chiefs are missing out on a golden opportunity to assess their roster as they head into unfamiliar territory this offseason.
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