The Kansas City Chiefs are currently dead last in the NFL in terms of cap space according to a new report.
Sports Illustrated NFL insider Albert Breer shared the NFL’s internal salary cap report from the morning of Monday, March 23. According to that report, the Chiefs have the least cap space in the NFL with $555K. That’s over $2.3 million less than the next closest team, the New England Patriots.
It’s not surprising that the Chiefs are lower on cap space than they were at the onset of free agency. They have club options and ERFA tenders that now count against the salary cap. We’ve recently seen contract details emerge for new CB Antonio Hamilton and re-signed QB Chad Henne. We’re still waiting for contract details for OT Mike Remmers, who also has recently signed with the team.
What is interesting is that Kansas City has only made one move to clear cap space, which is restructuring the contract of DE Frank Clark.
Per the NFL's internal cap report, 10 teams with least space as of this AM.
1. Chiefs $555K
2. Patriots $2.80M
3. Saints $9.02M
4. Steelers $10.64M
5. Falcons $14.28M
6. Packers $14.80M
7. Cardinals $15.71M
8. Ravens $17.42M
9. Niners $19.49M
10. Rams $19.65M— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 23, 2020
Keep in mind that salary cap reporting is fluid, and without knowing which contracts count against this report, it’s hard to know where the Chiefs truly stand. What we do know is that Brett Veach can create more cap space quickly and in a variety of different ways. Here’s just a few of those potential moves at his disposal:
- Extend TE Travis Kelce and lower his cap hit for the 2020 NFL season.
- Sign DT Chris Jones to a contract extension, eliminating his franchise tag number of $16.1 million.
- Trade/release WR Sammy Watkins, freeing up $14 million in cap space.
- Trade/release OL Laurent Duvernay-Tardif with a post-June 1 designation, saving $6.9 million in cap space.
- Trade/release SS Daniel Sorensen, creating $3.75 million in cap space.
These are just a few of the options that Kansas City will weigh over the next several weeks. This isn’t just about having flexibility in free agency either. At the very least, a month from now, they need to have just over $5 million in cap space to sign their rookie draft class.
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