Chiefs squeeze under salary cap with Frank Clark’s help

The Kansas City Chiefs were able to squeeze under the new league year’s salary cap threshold with help from Frank Clark’s contract and Cam Erving’s release.

The Kansas City Chiefs had until Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. C.T. to squeeze under the salary cap threshold for the 2020 league year in the NFL. Thanks to some contractual maneuvering with star pass rusher Frank Clark and the decision to move on from offensive lineman Cam Erving, the Chiefs were able to do just that.

Terez Paylor of Yahoo! Sports first had the news:

It’s interesting to see that the Chiefs could make it under the cap of $198.2 million without having to answer any questions as of yet on wide receiver Sammy Watkins or defensive tackle Chris Jones. Watkins has the single biggest cap hit of any wide receiver in the league and has been rumored to be released, traded, or restructured for months. Meanwhile, Jones has wanted a long-term deal for quite some time and it’s hard to tell exactly what the Chiefs will choose to do in that instance.

Instead, the Chiefs were able to open up some room thanks to their decision to not exercise a team option on Cameron Erving’s contract. The versatile offensive lineman will instead find a new home in free agency and he should have no problem finding work even as a backup given his ability to play tackle or guard. Erving’s option was for $3.25 million for K.C.

As for Frank Clark, the Chiefs converted $5 million of his salary into a signing bonus, per Mike Garafolo. This means the Chiefs get short-term cap relief in 2020 while spreading out that same amount of money over the remaining years of the deal. Given Clark initially signed a five-year deal, then it means his final three seasons in K.C. will be even more expensive. For now, at least, the Chiefs have the room they need.