The Kansas City Chiefs are projected to have $16 million in salary-cap space for the 2020 NFL season before factoring in DT Chris Jones, who reportedly will receive the franchise tag at a projected $15.5 million tender. The team intends to keep Jones, either on a long-term contract extension or at the price of the franchise tag for 2020. With that in mind, the Chiefs will need to begin clearing cap space in order to get under the salary cap, re-sign their own free agents and pursue outside free agents.
There are a handful of ways they can begin trimming their salary cap commitments for the 2020 season. First, they can approach players with a big cap number in 2020 and extend or restructure the contracts of those players. One player that is prime for an extension that could lower his cap number in 2020 is TE Travis Kelce. For a restructure, players would simply be asked to convert some of their salary cap hit into signing bonus. You’re essentially kicking the can down the road with this option, but it’s a good short term fix, which is what Kansas City needs.
The toughest option is to plainly release players and allow them to become free agents. We’ve already been over several potential cut candidates for Kansas City.
One option that has become increasingly palatable is trading some players that might otherwise be cut. While Veach has made it abundantly clear that the team would like to have a player like Sammy Watkins back in 2020, his $21 million cap number is too high for the Chiefs. It stands to reason that they’d explore trading a player like Watkins if a team was willing to come to the table.
Other names that have been mentioned include RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, S Daniel Sorensen, and possibly even a scenario where the team would pick up the club option of RB Damien Williams and trade him. Quality offensive linemen don’t often become available in trade and the Chiefs could net a mid-round pick in return for Duvernay-Tardif. Sorensen proved his worth in some big moments last season, but the Chiefs could save $2.75 million against the cap if they were to trade or release him. Finally, Williams will never have greater value than he does right now. He’s coming off of a historic postseason tear with the Chiefs. There might not be a market for many 28-year-old RBs, but teams should be interested in Williams on his one-year deal worth $2.8 million.