Kansas City Chiefs: It’s time to say goodbye

Alex Smith

Alex Smith isn’t getting cut, so before any of you even think about saying something in the comments, just stop. I’ll explain more later in this piece, but the bottom line is that Smith isn’t even the quarterback that can save KC the most cap space this coming season. So not only is he the best quarterback on the roster, but cutting him doesn’t even make the most sense financially.

I know some of you will counter with the idea of Smith “taking less money”. Be careful what you wish for there. Usually when players agree to take less money in order to clear up cap space what they are actually doing is deferring that money until later in their contract. This season Smith’s cap number is $16.9 million.

If the Chiefs cut him $7.2 million of that would still count against their cap, meaning they’d only clear $9.7 million by cutting him. Next year, his cap number jumps to $20.6 million, but if they cut him only $3.6 million counts against their cap. So as things stand now they could cut Smith next year with minimal damage to their cap situation.

BUT…..if Smith were to “take less money” this season that money typically gets turned into guaranteed money the following year. So if Smith took his cap number down by $5 million this year it would likely bump the money against the cap if they cut him next season up by that same amount. So if you are a Smith detractor and are hoping this is the last season with Smith as the Chiefs quarterback you should actually be hoping he DOESN’T take a lower cap number this season.

There’s also a player on defense that isn’t going anywhere.