A Quick Look At The Chiefs Potential Cap Cuts
By Ben Nielsen
The Kansas City Chiefs’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers have many people already looking towards 2015 and how the Chiefs can get better. While there is still a shot at the playoffs this season, it’s hard not to look forward to the future because of how dire the situation looks in the present.
To the end of trying to get better for the 2015 season, Kansas City may be looking at way to add some short-term cap space to go with their long-term flexibility. What can the Chiefs do to open up a lot of space? Well there are lot of players the Chiefs could consider cutting so they can add improvements via free agency and the draft.
Keep in mind the Chiefs should be armed with 11 draft picks next spring, and the free agent crop happens to have some quality players that would fill some of the Chiefs’ most obvious holes. The combination of some declining players and a good cap situation should allow the Chiefs to at least make a run at some of those free agents.
But to do that they’ll need to let some dead weight go. Here’s some of the players who could be on the chopping block and how much money they’ll save the Chiefs against the cap for 2015 should John Dorsey decide to hand them a pink slip.
Again, this is just a list for reference and is not an endorsement of releasing all (or any) of these players.
Player – Cap Savings
Dwayne Bowe – $11 million (if designated as a June 1 cut), $5 million if he’s not designated as a June 1 cut
Tamba Hali – $9 million
Eric Berry – $5.455 million
Mike DeVito – $4 million
Derrick Johnson – $5.25 million
Chase Daniel – $3.8 million
Anthony Fasano – $1.975 million
Donnie Avery – $3.55 million
Joe Mays – $3 million
A.J. Jenkins – $1.337 million
One more note. The NFL has not yet set the official cap number for 2015 but it will at least be $140 million by most conservative estimates. There are some sources who believe the cap number could be as high as $150 million. If the cap number does end up being $140 million and the Chiefs cut all 10 of these players then Kansas City will have about $46 million in cap space to work with for the 2015 season.
Is there anyone on this list the Chiefs should absolutely keep for 2015?