Players recently voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement, which will have implications for the upcoming free agency period.
For the Kansas City Chiefs, the new CBA should help them out in freeing some more cap space. Prior to the new CBA agreement, NFL teams did not have the option of using the post-June 1 designation. The post-June 1 designation is a way teams alleviate some dead money from a cut or trade by spreading it out over a two-year period on a multi-year contract. Now that there is a new CBA, post-June 1 cuts have returned and can help the Chiefs create some cap space.
One expected cap casualty is WR Sammy Watkins because of his massive $21 million cap hit in 2020. Unfortunately, the post-June 1 designation won’t help the team save more on Watkins because he’s in the final year of his contract. If the Chiefs release Watkins, his dead money will immediately accelerate against the cap. There are two players, however, that would provide more cap savings with the post-June 1 designation.
The first player is starting RG Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who we’ve already detailed as a potential cap casualty. Before the new CBA, releasing Duvernay-Tardif would only save the Chiefs $5 million in cap space, with $4 million in dead money. Now that the post-June 1 designation is back on the table, Duvernay-Tardif could only cost $2 million in dead money and save $7 million against the cap.
This season Duvernay-Tardif was unable to recapture his success in his return from a leg injury suffered in 2018. His departure would be disappointing because he’s a well-liked figure in the organization and the community, but this move could be necessitated based on how much they’ll save.
The next player that the Chiefs might consider is Alex Okafor. Without the post-June 1 designation, Okafor wouldn’t be listed among cut candidates. However, now that it is an option for Kansas City, Okafor could save $5.2 million against the cap with only $2 million in dead money if he were released.
In his first year with Kansas City, Okafor played in just 10 games, starting nine of them. He had 22 total tackles, five tackles for loss, five sacks, and nine QB hits on the season before being placed on injured reserve with a season-ending injury. It seems unlikely that the Chiefs would give up on Okafor so quickly, but that valuable cap space might put a target on Okafor’s back.
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