The Kansas City Chiefs are no strangers to having to make difficult business decisions. While all teams fall into this boat and part ways with players they later wish they hadn’t, for a Super Bowl contender like the Chiefs, not retaining these players can very well be the difference between winning the whole dang thing and, well — not winning the whole dang thing.

While the jury is still out on some of the Chiefs’ recent departures, there have been signs indicating that letting these players go could have been a massive mistake for Kansas City. Here are three names that fall into that category.

Chiefs might have walked away from these players too soon

Joe Thuney

It feels like a pretty safe bet that the Chiefs will go on to regret parting ways with Joe Thuney. Sure, the move was made to free up money so the team could eventually ink Trey Smith to a long-term extension but trading a two-time All-Pro who excels at multiple positions on the o-line and is only 32 years old seemed like a head scratching decision.

Thuney’s best assit might have been his dominance and versatility but the guy stayed healthy too and the importance of that can’t be understated. Now the Chiefs will have to hope that former second-round pick Kingsley Suamataia can indeed slide into the left guard role admirably or else trading Thuney, even if he was due a massive pay day, will prove to be a terrible decision by Brett Veach.

Tommy Townsend

The Chiefs opted not to re-sign Tommy Townsend following the 2023 season and the punter then signed a deal to join the Houston Texans. With Townsend’s departure, the Chiefs had to find a new punter and they ended up bringing in Matt Araiza, who was nicknamed “Punt God” for his punting efforts in college.

Araiza did not live up to the nickname during his inaugural season, to say the least. He wasn’t necessarily bad but the Chiefs brought in competition for Araiza this summer in the form of Eddie Czaplicki, who won the Ray Guy Award (given to the best punter in college football). This clearly shows that K.C. isn’t fully sold on Araiza and maybe the Chiefs regret letting Townsend sign elsewhere.

Justin Watson

Speaking of former Chiefs who found their way to Houston, Justin Watson departed the team in the offseason, inking a short-term deal with the Texans. When looking at Watson’s numbers, people might not think he did much but those who actually watched Chiefs games closely knew that Watson was Patrick Mahomes’ security blanket.

Now that Watson is off to a new team, Mahomes won’t have that and he’ll have to form that connection with another receiver. While the Chiefs have added help at wide receiver this offseason and have better depth than in years past, letting one of Mahomes’ safety targets leave could end up hurting the offense more than people think.