The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV with offensive fireworks, but they built a dynasty with their defense. During their five Super Bowl appearances in the past six seasons, the offense has often taken a backseat to defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s dominant unit.

Kansas City has enjoyed the luxury of having a shutdown cornerback in the secondary for the past two seasons, allowing Spagnuolo to effectively erase the opposing team’s top offensive weapon without making sacrifices elsewhere. Despite a lackluster offense, the Chiefs were able to win Super Bowl LVIII largely due to a secondary led by All-Pro cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.

Kansas City had an opportunity to sign Sneed to a long-term deal prior to 2023, but they decided to let him enter the final year of his contract without a new deal in place. Sneed proved his ability to be a lockdown cornerback and priced himself out of Kansas City’s budget, which ultimately led to him being franchise tagged and subsequently traded.

Now, Kansas City might be repeated that same mistake with another premier cornerback.

The Chiefs are making it more difficult to sign Trent McDuffie

Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie became eligible for a contract extension this offseason, but the Chiefs have dragged their feet. Kansas City would have been wise to lock their top cornerback to a long-term deal early, but it might already be too late for the team to settle at an affordable number.

The cornerback market has skyrocketed across the league this offseason. The Carolina Panthers signed cornerback Jaycee Horn to a four-year, $100 million deal worth $25 million annually, and the Houston Texans topped that AAV by signing cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. to a three-year, $90 million contact extension.

Those deals will undoubtedly increase the cost to sign McDuffie, who will expect to top Stingley’s average annual salary of $30 million. The longer the Chiefs wait, the more they’ll have to pay. New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner is due to sign a record-setting deal as well, which could increase McDuffie’s price even further.

McDuffie is heading into the fourth year of his rookie contract, but the Chiefs could retain him through the 2026 season by picking up his fifth-year option. Regardless, he’ll likely demand a long-term deal before playing on an expiring contract and the team will need to sign him sooner or later either way.

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has infamously never signed a homegrown cornerback to a second contract, but All-Pro cornerbacks aren’t easily replaced year after year.

McDuffie, a first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, stepped into Sneed’s role and thrived during the 2024 season. The third-year cornerback earned a 83.1 PFF grade, third highest among 222 qualifying cornerbacks. After earning a first-team All-Pro selection as a slot cornerback in 2023, the 25-year-old earned a second-team All-Pro selection in 2024.

Spotrac’s market value estimations currently project McDuffie will earn a three-year, $73 million contract, which averages out to $24.3 million annually.