Dec 28, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs fans show their support during the second half against the San Diego Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs won 19-7. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
$30 million.
That’s the magic number the Chiefs need to hit before the start of the 2015 league year if they want to be able to make the necessary changes to move the roster forward. On the surface this seems like a numbers that’s going to be next to impossible to hit but the options are a lot better than you’d think.
Current projections have the 2015 salary cap at $142 million, an increase of about $9 million from last season. The Chiefs are about $800k under the projected number as things stand right now, which suggest a lot of changes are coming to the roster.
$30 million becomes the number because of the holes the Chiefs need to fill and the players they need to re-sign. Justin Houston is probably going to command a $90+ million contact which will feature a high cap number, and the offensive line problems only become more of a disaster if John Dorsey cannot re-sign center Rodney Hudson. Add those two contracts plus the money that will be needed to sign an 11-man draft class and make the free agent moves necessary to rebuild the offensive line and receiver corp, and the Chiefs will likely need something close to $30 million in 2015 cap space to work with this offseason.
And, frankly, change is needed. There are some aging players on the roster whose production no longer match their high cap numbers, and the team could use a refresh in certain aspects of the roster such as offensive line, inside linebacker, and wide receiver. Players were going to get purged from the team no matter what the salary cap situation looked like.
What could happen this season that would get the Chiefs to that magical $30 million number? Let’s take a look.