Houston will be a problem. The Chargers will be a problem. And I don’t think Cincinnati, Kansas City, or Baltimore will collapse like Buffalo is hoping over the next 5 years.

I thought this thread was about the downfall of the USD.

Yup.

Not everyone can keep a window open for a decade. Mahomes is a unicorn that allows that.

For everyone else it's about finding a window, attacking it, identifying a core for the future and then re-grouping and rebuilding around that core for a 2nd bite at the apple.

Then you find a new core, rinse and repeat.

For a 'normal' NFL team you're looking at maybe an 8 year cycle where you have a year of build up, 3 years where you gauge/attack your window, 2 years of rebuild/reload and then 2-3 years within a new window.

Then the guys you started with have aged out and you start the process anew. Now for Buffalo, their core guys weren't all that young to begin with so it's a different sequence for them, but they're definitely in their step-back period before trying to re-set a core and forge a new window.

The Chiefs are in their '2nd Window' already because somehow they won a damn SB in the 2022 'reload' year. Now they're making a 2nd attack with their Mahomes/Kelce/Jones core for a couple more years before they will also look to re-assess and reload.

2026 is likely to be a little bit of a step-back season where they identify their new core; likely around Mahomes, Rice and McDuffie. But I'd say they're in far better shape than most teams because of how well they've supplemented this roster with dudes like Karlaftis, Bolton and Creed as others have aged out.

The Chiefs have just done this better than everyone else.

and those teams still in trouble with the cap INCREASE this year.

The Broncos have a nice chunk of that by themselves. LMAO

It's true.

I will say I feel the Texans and Titans playoff runs were kinda flukey? Like they were going to lose anyways and wouldn't be back for future postseason success. The Texans organizationally and the Titans strategically just wouldn't be able to replicate their success, that was their only chance.

The Bills however, were perfectly poised to challenge the Chiefs year after year. Until 13 seconds. Then they completely lost their minds in a desperate all-in move in 2022 and have to pay the piper with nothing to show for it.

coming back to this, they have not even started new draftees yet.
will be a lot of shuffling of players left in the next few months