The Kansas City Chiefs had a down year in 2025 but the hope is that they’ll bounce right back in 2026 and become immediate Super Bowl contenders once again. Working in their favor is the fact that they have a very young roster, which gives them an edge not just this year, but for the foreseeable future as well.
According to fantasy football analyst Ian Hartitz, the Chiefs have the second-youngest roster in the entire league with only the Dolphins sitting ahead of them on that list. Hartitz reported that the Chiefs’ overall age is 25.40 years old, meaning this is quite the group of young guys Andy Reid has at his disposal for the 2026 season.
The Chiefs signed 25-year-old Kenneth Walker III to be their star running back this offseason, giving them a younger option at the position over Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. Their wide receiver room is also full of young players with Xavier Worthy sitting at 23 years old, Rashee Rice at 26, and Tyquan Thornton at 25. Hollywood Brown, one of their starters last year, is about to turn 29, for what it’s worth.
Chiefs have the second-youngest roster in the league
The Chiefs have two 36-year-old players in Travis Kelce and James Winchester but those are the two oldest players by five years. Chris Jones is the next oldest at 31. Perhaps if Cam Jordan, who is also 36 years old, joins the team, then the Chiefs would drop a bit on this list, but for now, this is a roster stacked with youth.
This could be looked at as a disadvantage since some of these guys lack NFL experience but, considering that Reid is the head coach and Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback, that helps a lot in that department. The young players should provide consistency for this franchise and help get them back to where they belong, which is in the Super Bowl.
