How the Kansas City Chiefs can free up significant cap space

Brett Veach and his calculator have a lot of work to do, but here are some major ways the Chiefs could save money if they’re flying too close to the cap.

With several players entering free agency, general manager Brett Veach and his calculator have a lot of work to do. I can’t stress enough that some of what you’re about to read will not be popular suggestions in a vacuum. What we’re trying to do here is exhaustively explore the most impactful ways to free up cap space, regardless of player popularity.

Read it with this approach: You might not want to stop paying for cable or daily trips to Starbucks, but when you only have so much at your disposal, you have to make hard decisions in order to make your budget work.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s find some dollars in the budget.

1. Sammy Watkins

This one is no surprise, and it’s nothing personal.

Everybody likes Sammy Watkins and he has been an important part of this version of the Chiefs. He’s been good; the problem is, Watkins is paid like an All-Pro. Watkins will have the league’s highest cap number among wide receivers in 2020. The team can’t enter the new year with that contract. He knows it. His agent knows it. Something has to change.

Especially when you consider that the Chiefs will have exorbitant amounts of cash tied up in skill position players, with fellow wideout Tyreek Hill due to be the league’s 4th-highest-paid receiver, and Travis Kelce the league’s 3rd-highest-paid tight end. Not to mention the fact that the end goal here is to get the salary cap into a window where Chiefs brass can make quarterback Patrick Mahomes the highest-paid player in the game. Somewhere along the line, you have to find where your bargains are.

There are a few directions this could go. Watkins has indicated he is content in Kansas City, and the team has also reportedly shown interest in retaining him in some capacity. The next question would be whether they could actually reach an agreement or not. If he comes back in 2020, it would help to have him in a role that keeps him on the field for 50-60% of snaps instead of 75-85% of snaps. This will help preserve his body and also help to highlight his strengths.

As Watkins proved in the playoffs, he can be a difference maker with just a few catches in a game. It reminds me of how former Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles was not a 25-plus-touches type of weapon. Charles was at his best getting 15 or so carries per game. If they’re intent on retaining him, the Chiefs can possibly increase Watkins’ productivity by decreasing his workload.

The Chiefs could instead choose to move on entirely. Releasing Watkins would result in $7 million in dead money that would go against the 2020 cap. That is a lot of dead cap, but another way to put it is that the team would save $14 million against the cap by releasing Watkins. Of course, you would then have to replace him on the roster, but that’s manageable. And there would be plenty of cash left over that could be reallocated elsewhere.

This would leave Hill and Mecole Hardman as the likely starters, with Byron Pringle, Gehrig Dieter, and Jody Fortson in the mix as well. Demarcus Robinson is an unrestricted free agent, and while one unlikely option is that he could be a potential replacement for Watkins (if released), Robinson is not expected to be retained.

Is Watkins a valuable contributor to this offense? Yes.

Can it work without him in the lineup? Yes.