Looking at the projected contract for Clyde Edwards-Helaire

Given the slotted contract system for rookies, it’s easy to tell what Clyde Edwards-Helaire will be making from the Kansas City Chiefs for the next few years.

Kansas City Chiefs first-round running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire has, of course, not agreed to a contract yet (and probably won’t for several weeks), but the bar is already pretty well set based on the value of his draft slot.

Per Spotrac.com, Edwards-Helaire is expected to ink a four-year deal worth approximately $10.8 million. This would put the LSU product on the 2020 books with a cap hit of approximately $1.97 million. A big portion of that total amount comes in the form of a $5.43M signing bonus.

Edwards-Helaire will enjoy a nice raise over last year’s final first round pick: N’Keal Harry of the New England Patriots. Last year, Harry’s deal was worth $10.1 million total, or a difference of approximately $730K. Judging by Harry’s deal, Chiefs fans can expect Edwards-Helaire to impact the cap at $3.5 million or so at its peak in 2023—an ideal scenario for a valuable skill position player given how much other options like Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill will command during this same stretch of time.

Kansas City is hard-pressed up against the current $220 million cap, but general manager Brett Veach and his calculator have been hard at work. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins and offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif have both agreed to restructure their contracts within the last month.

There are still some ways that Veach can wiggle some extra dollars. The cap hit for defensive tackle Chris Jones is currently $16.13 million, but that is under his one-year franchise tag. If Jones signs a long-term extension, it’s reasonable to expect that his cap number will drop by $10 million or more for 2020. Veach has consistently structured larger deals so that the first year has a smaller number (see the deals for defensive end Frank Clark and safety Tyrann Mathieu), so we can confidently extrapolate that to Jones and foresee a cap hit of approximately $6 million instead of $16 million.

Furthermore, the Chiefs still have four more picks in this weekend’s draft. Depending on what the team chooses to do with those picks, some larger contracts could become expendable.

The NFL Draft continues tonight at 6:00 p.m. Arrowhead Time with the 2nd and 3rd rounds. The Chiefs currently hold the 63rd overall pick at the end of Round 2, and the 96th overall pick at the end of Round 3.