What’s Next for the Kansas City Chiefs?
By Austin Pitts
Oct 13, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Terrelle Pryor (2) is sacked by Kansas City Chiefs outside linebacker Justin Houston (50) during the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Contract Extensions
To start, let me apologize for even bringing these up. I know that everyone and their mother and that sweet old lady down the street has talked about the contracts of Alex Smith and Justin Houston, but there’s a reason for that. These two contracts are going to be huge for the future of this team. Not only will they possibly set the tone for our offense and defense for years to come, but the structure of the contracts is incredibly important as well.
While the Smith and Houston contracts are up at the end of this year, there are quite a few big names that have their contracts end the year after. Eric Berry, Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Dontari Poe, Sean Smith, and last but not least, Jamaal Charles. That’s quite a few big names, and to keep them all we are going to have to have some maneuverability when it comes to cap space.
The reason these deals with Alex Smith and Justin Houston are so important aren’t just because of the talent each player brings, but the fact that the structure of these deals could dictate how many other key players we can bring back in around them.