The Kansas City Chiefs are zeroed in on the 2023 NFL draft, which is set to begin on Thursday, April 27.
Thankfully, the team won’t have to worry much about their salary-cap situation while they add new players via the draft. According to the folks at Over the Cap, with 65 players under contract and only the top 51 contracts eligible for the salary cap, the Chiefs currently have $3.8 million in cap space available. That includes recently signed free agents such as QB Blaine Gabbert, WR Justin Watson and WR Richie James.
That note on the top 51 contracts is important when considering how much cap space Chiefs’ cap guru Brandt Tillis will need to sign the 2023 NFL draft class. Assuming that the Chiefs keep all 10 of their picks, only four of those picks will receive contracts that impact the cap. They’ll need roughly $2.9 million in cap space to satisfy the first-year cap hit for their rookie pool.
Should Brett Veach make some trades in the earliest rounds of the draft, that number could be even smaller. When the draft and signing of undrafted free agents is concluded, Kansas City should still have around $1 million in cap space available to toy with. They also still have several different ways they can free cap space later this summer, including an extension for DT Chris Jones who carries a $28.2 million cap hit in 2023.
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