Salary Cap Digest: Breaking Down Kansas City Chiefs Biggest Cap Hits

January 25, 2014; Honolulu, HI, USA; Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Brandon Flowers (24) during the 2014 Pro Bowl Ohana Day at Aloha Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

BRANDON FLOWERS

2014 Cap Hit: $10.5 million
Potential Savings If Cut/Traded: $3.5 million
Remaining Contract: Three years, $25 million with three $2 million roster bonuses and three $250k workout bonuses

Flowers restructured his deal in 2013 to help Kansas City save some money against the cap in 2013, so there is a level of assumption here that the Chiefs planned for his high cap numbers in addition his continued presence on the roster in 2014. In fact, the Chiefs could potentially save $7.5 million against the cap if they were to trade or cut Flowers after the 2014 season.

What to do with Flowers has already been a controversial subject amongst Chiefs fans. We already have one post on Arrowhead Addict discussing the possibility of trading Flowers.  There are good fits for Flowers around the NFL, too. Houston Texans could find him to be a good fit to help sure up their secondary and to reunite Flowers with new defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel. New England could be interesting in Flowers as well as the Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, and Philadelphia Eagles.

Flowers definitely has value on the open market. From 2009 to 2012, Flowers averaged a +11.4 coverage grade, according to Pro Football Focus, and was in the top 10 in coverage grades every year during that period. There were not very many cornerbacks better at doing their job than Flowers over four years prior to 2013.

In 2013 Kansas City switched to a man-heavy scheme, which asks Flowers to leave his comfortable Tampa 2 zone and run with receivers like Dez Bryant down field. This did not go well. Flowers finished the season with a -9.8 coverage grade from PFF, 15th worst in the NFL (minimum 292 snaps).

This poses a question for Chiefs fans: trade Flowers for draft picks now (and eat a ton of money for this year’s cap) or see what Flowers can do with a roster better suited for Bob Sutton’s defense?

There may be a great deal of value keeping Flowers for at least the 2014 season. First, consider when Flowers’ worst games happened this season: vs. Dallas (Dez Bryant) and vs. Denver (Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker). Flowers combined to have a -7.9 coverage grade in those two games, allowing three of his five touchdowns and two of his three 100-yard games.

Flowers’ issues didn’t come from playing man so much as they came from playing man against big wide receivers. Both Dallas and Denver had numbers against the Chiefs when it came to having multiple receiving threats who were 6-2 or taller. Kansas City has only two corners, Sean Smith and Marcus Cooper, taller than 6-2, and Cooper was a rookie who had only been playing cornerback for two seasons prior to 2013. Add in Kansas City’s safety problems and their second half pass rush outage and it makes sense why Flowers struggled so much this season.

Next year could be different, though. Cooper will have another year under his belt of playing corner and another offseason to get better. He flashed great potential in 2013 and could be a steal for KC. Kendrick Lewis is going to be replaced as is Dunta Robinson, and Kansas City should be able to add to their pass rush, too.

If Kansas City can get better matchups for Flowers against teams with multiple big receivers, Flowers could easily return to his elite form as a cornerback. Instead of having to cover 6-3 Decker, he’ll cover 5-9 Wes Welker. Those kinds of match-ups would make the Chiefs defense very dangerous.

And if it doesn’t work out? Kansas City can trade or release him next offseason and not have to eat so much money.