How the Kansas City Chiefs could potentially afford Earl Thomas

It’s easy to get excited about an acquisition like Earl Thomas, but the reality is that no team has yet pulled the trigger for one reason or another. Perhaps they’re wincing at the likely trade haul that Seattle would want in return, but for a team like the Chiefs, the money simply isn’t there (or would be difficult to free up).

Right now, Thomas is in the final year of a four-year, $40 million extension he signed with the Seahawks back in April 2014. His cap hit for this year will be $10.4 million, a huge number that would place him fourth on the Chiefs in overall salary cap number for 2018—behind outside linebacker Justin Houston, left tackle Eric Fisher and safety Eric Berry.

A few things to note here that are important:

1. The Chiefs only have $7.5 million in cap space as of press time, and most teams want to have $5 to $10 million heading into a season for emergencies. Thomas would require all of that and more to pay for this year.
2. Thomas also wants an extension and is willing to hold out, which means the Chiefs could potentially rework a deal for Thomas to go cheaper in 2018 for future rewards, but the Chiefs already have so little to work with this year that the sum would have to be paltry for 2018.
3. The Chiefs also already made a few moves this year where they’re paying pennies in 2018 before contracts escalate next year and beyond while Patrick Mahomes’s rookie deal is this cheap. Anthony Hitchens’ contract is only 2% of this year’s salary cap, but that number crosses into the 5 to 6% threshold starting next year. Sammy Watkins is only a $7.8 million cap hit this year compared to an average of $20.1 million in 2019 and 2020.
4. Earl Thomas made the Pro Bowl in 2017 as well as second-team All-Pro. He’s already the fourth highest cap hit at safety in the NFL as well. Does anyone think Thomas will take less money when he’s proven he can still play at such a high level? This extension won’t be cheap.

While the idea of adding a playmaker like Thomas next to Berry sounds exciting, the Chiefs are already paying a near 30-year-old safety to be the highest paid player at his position. Can you imagine a team having two of the top three or four paid safeties moving forward? There are simply other positions that require future extensions or even free agent attention.

The Chiefs are currently No. 4 in positional spending at safety with 12.94% of their cap pledged to the position. The highest in the game is the Seahawks (16%) and they’re in the middle of reversing that very trend. Only three others are even over 10%—the Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles—but the Chiefs would be so far beyond other teams that it just doesn’t seem plausible.

Now rather than ending on a naysaying note, let’s put something together. Just in case Brett Veach went to his team and said, “Let’s find a way to make this work,” let’s try to see how things could click.