How the Kansas City Chiefs can free up significant cap space

5. Damien Wilson

The 26-year-old outside linebacker helped win a Super Bowl in his first season in Kansas City and was one of four defenders to start all 19 games in 2019. Wilson was second on the team with 81 combined tackles, and was a big-time bargain.

Linebacker is a position that could be a priority in free agency or in the draft, because it’s probably the only area on offense or defense in which the team doesn’t have a superstar. You have an elite player in the offensive backfield, a couple that catch passes, you have an elite offensive lineman, two on the defensive line, and an elite safety.

But the team just needs bodies in the linebacker room. Darron Lee appeared to be a flop and will be a free agent. Dorian O’Daniel played sparingly on defense, despite having a lot of the athletic gifts that you want at the position. Ben Niemann surprised everyone by playing about a third of all defensive snaps last season. With the status of pending free agent Reggie Ragland up in the air, Anthony Hitchens appears to be the only sure thing in 2020.

Looking at his contract, the team has an option to keep Wilson for this year and while they could save $3 million by doing so, they would also have to pay someone else to replace him. There’s just no reason to let Wilson go at that price.

Separating the relational side of being a part of a team is hard to separate from the business aspect. This is nothing new in sports, as every year, teams have had to say goodbye to franchise cornerstones due to financial constraints. The key is having someone at the top who is able to work through those tough decisions with both the calculator and the keen eye of a talent scout.

The Kansas City Chiefs have capitalized off the sport’s ultimate luxury: A Super Bowl championship with a star quarterback on a rookie deal. Now Veach has his work cut out for him as he navigates the team’s cap situation into a place where he can pay the world’s best football player what he’s worth.