Chiefs’ cap situation as it stands

Hali had a contract that should have been restructured before it was voided to diminish the ridiculous $4 million hit that it registered as dead money. That means that Hali takes $4 million from the Chiefs without having to ever step foot on the field. Since news broke that he has wanted to stay a Chief for life, it is absolutely maddening to be left in the dark about that voided contract. That mistake appears to be completely on John Dorsey.

Another clear mistake that has no one to blame but cruel fate is the release of Ben Grubbs. He was seen as a value trade last year having been to a few pro-bowls and proved himself as a solid pass protector. Grubbs missed the second half of the 2015 season with a neck injury that appears to have ended his career with the Chiefs. While awful that Grubbs’ injury may limit the rest of his career, I don’t believe his play reflected his talent even prior to his injury.

In total, the dead money hits at nearly $9.5 million.

The optimism that fans can take from these numbers is that the dead money number is nowhere near the $21 million it was last year. Also, Eric Berry has a strong chance of getting a long term deal done before the franchise tag hits the cap later this summer. Should he restructure to a deal that only pushes around a $7 million hit this year, then that leaves the Chiefs with roughly $6 million still to play with accounting for expected rookie spending.

A few things that may interest only me about the cap breakdown:

• Tamba Hali has a $750,000 workout bonus. This is triple that of the next nearest number who is Jamaal Charles. The Chiefs must really want Hali to lose a few pounds and get faster
• The Chiefs won’t save any money by cutting Alex Smith until after 2017. This is a perfect amount of time to develop a rookie quarterback behind Alex for two seasons.
• Jeremy Maclin’s cap hit doesn’t expand all that much through his entire contract. It only grows by $1 million over the next three years.
• The lowest paid player on the practice squad makes 13 times more than my sad teacher’s salary. I’m not saying that it’s wrong, I’m just saying it would be nice.

There you go, Addicts. Something to consider when you want the Chiefs to keep signing those big money guys.