Five moves to help KC Chiefs avoid salary cap trouble in 2021

1. Convert Patrick Mahomes 2021 salary to bonus money

Patrick Mahomes just signed the biggest contract in NFL history last offseason, so some might think it’s too soon to do anything with his deal, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Because of the length of his deal, it gives lots of years between which the Chiefs can split bonus money.

Mahomes has a $24.8 million cap hit next season. If the Chiefs were to convert most of that to bonus money that he would get up front, they could then divide that money between future years. According to Over the Cap, the Chiefs could free up over $17 million in cap space for this coming season. That is obviously huge.

I would guess this is almost a sure thing to happen given the team’s cap situation and Mahomes’ desire to do what is best for the team. Besides, it doesn’t give him any less money this season; instead he just gets it all up front. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the plan from the get go and that Veach discussed this option during his contract negotiations last year.

While Mahomes is the one that is an absolute no brainer, the Chiefs could also do something similar with guys like Chris Jones, Tyreek Hill, and Travis Kelce. If you assume the Chiefs are going to want to keep them for the entirety of their current deals, then moving some of the money around to free up space this season would be something that wouldn’t have a downside. I mentioned earlier that this could also be done with Clark and/or Hitchens, but it limits future flexibility there for the Chiefs and that’s not ideal.

Brett Veach has proved he can do whatever it takes to make the contracts work under the salary cap. While this offseason is going to have some major challenges, I believe he has several moves available to him to make things work. It isn’t as simple as just making cuts and clearing space, but if any GM has proven he can get creating with deals, it’s Veach.

So what do you think Chiefs fans? Do you agree with my five most likely moves to clear cap space this offseason? Do you think that I’m missing any moves? Do you think they will do something with Clark or Hitchens? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.