Kansas City Chiefs won’t pick up Cameron Erving’s option
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs have decided not to pick up Cameron Erving’s option for a fifth year, which would have been a costly addition.
The Kansas City Chiefs had a deadline looming to decide on what to do about Cameron Erving’s future with the team, at least as it relates to his fifth year option. The decision looked easy on paper, but Brett Veach made it official as the team decided to not exercise the final year of his deal.
As a former first round pick, the Chiefs inherited the chance to pick up a fifth year of control of Erving at a much higher price. Unfortunately for Erving, he’s yet to showcase anything close to such earning potential on the field for either the team that drafted him, the Cleveland Browns, or the Chiefs this last season.
Erving entered the NFL as a young, versatile heralded prospect out of Florida State who was supposed to be able to step in and start at multiple positions. Instead, he never found his place along a line in Cleveland that could have used him at multiple spots. The Browns shipped him off to the Chiefs last summer for a fifth round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
As for the Chiefs side, the lack of an option doesn’t mean Erving’s tenure is done with the Chiefs. Erving is still under contract this year, and the Chiefs acquired the former Seminole knowing he would be a work-in-progress. If anything, both sides knew that the option would be declined from the outset simply because it jumps from his current cap hit at $1.7 million to $9.65 million.
Depending on how much Erving likes it in Kansas City and how well Erving provides the line with a Zach Fulton sort of versatile, plug-in starter presence (or even better, a potential starter at left guard), both sides could easily agree to a new long-term deal with smarter dollars involved. For now, however, the Chiefs had to decline what we knew they would all along.