Now that a week of free agency is in the books and the big names have mostly been signed and re-signed, lets take a look at what situation the Kansas City Chiefs find themselves in with their salary cap.
Even after adding the contract of new wide receiver Rod Streater, the Chiefs currently have about $9 million in space to make a few more moves. (overthecap.com) This isn’t much room when you consider that 26 other teams are in better situations as free agency moves on into the draft.
Last year, the Chiefs spent about $5 million on draft pick salary for the services of roughly five players all of last season. Expect that trend to increase if the Chiefs get back their third round pick from the unfair punishment unleashed by the NFL last Wednesday for tampering. If we assume that $6 million is to be spent on rookies for 2016, then that leaves only $3 million to spend on remaining free agents and there are still a few positions needed to fill before camp begins in July.
Here is the total cap breakdown by overthecap.com for the Chiefs. What stands out to me is the dead money on the far right. Wednesday afternoon, John Dorsey was praised and lauded for a job well done after a few hours of considerable questions. The team had retained Tamba Hali, Derrick Johnson, Jaye Howard, Eric Berry and, to a lesser extent, Frank Zombo. They also procured the very capable Mitchel Schwartz to play right tackle.
These moves left Chiefs fans with a bit of euphoria as no one expected to see Howard in a Chiefs’ uniform next season and Schwartz had proven against Denver to be a Von Miller antidote. But now we look and see two moves that have greatly hurt the Chiefs from contending for other possible starters like Sean Smith or Eric Weddle.
Next: What could have been done better?