Kansas City Chiefs Re-Sign Thomas Gafford

Sep 19, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs long snapper Thomas Gafford (43) during warmups prior to playing the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Chiefs defeated the Eagles 26-16. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Take one more name off the Chiefs free agent list. Long snapper Thomas Gafford signed a one-year, $730,000 contract yesterday, according to Over the Cap.

Gafford has been with the Chiefs since 2008 and has been a steady performer. As Arrowhead Pride noted, Gafford has survived four head coaches and three general managers. One would assume he is doing his job pretty decently if he can stay on the roster through all of that change.

With Gafford off the free agent list, the Chiefs now have 11 pending free agents: Branden Albert, Geoff Schwartz, Jon Asamoah, Dexter McCluster, Kyle Williams, Frank Zombo, Quintin Demps, Husain Abdullah, Kendrick Lewis, Akeem Jordan, and Tyson Jackson. Current estimates have the Chiefs with $799,944 in cap space, but a lot can happen to impact that number between contract restructures and releases. However, it is probably a safe conclusion that a few of the major names on this list – primarily Albert – will end up hitting free agency.

Don’t worry, though. Kansas City is in a pretty decent situation when it comes to cap space. For example, San Diego is estimated to have negative cap space available, and Dallas is projected to be $24.6 million over the cap. As Stacy Smith wrote earlier this week, roster turnover is going to happen. So long as the Chiefs draft well and maybe find a diamond or two in the rough, they should be in good shape heading into 2014.

Kansas City has until March 11 to sign their own free agents to extensions before free agency begins.

UPDATE

Here’s confirmation of the signing.