KC Chiefs: What are the realistic options for Frank Clark’s contract?
By Evan Mead
The Kansas City Chiefs season, although technically done, has really only just begun. With multiple expiring contracts, numerous bad contracts, and the draft, the Chiefs front office and coaching staff are going to be busy for the next couple of months.
This offseason, unlike most, is going to be spent on the phone with players and agents hoping to find ways to undo certain mistakes.
In the past, we’ve seen Brett Veach look to manipulate the salaries of current Chiefs players in order to re-sign players and acquire new talent. Of course, they are doing so in hopes of building a Super Bowl team. However, this is the tightest the Chiefs have been to the cap in quite some time and things are going to be rather difficult for the team—at least with some decisions.
As things stand right now, the Kansas City Chiefs will be heading into the off-season with 55 players on their roster. Given those 55 players, they have an estimated $1,836,984 available according to Spotrac. That probably doesn’t seem too bad, but we haven’t gotten to the worst part yet.
Looking closer at the Chiefs future and Frank Clark’s contract.
That $1,836,984 that K.C. has available excludes players like left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. and defensive backs Charvarius Ward and Tyrann Mathieu.
Mathieu who has been a leader for the Chiefs the past three years is now a free agent and without the money to bring him back, he could be moving on from Kansas City.
Brown was acquired by the Chiefs this past offseason from the Baltimore Ravens. After watching Mahomes run for his life against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Chiefs knew they had to get some new blood on the offensive line and that is exactly what they did. With Brown, the Chiefs got a tackle to protect Mahomes’ blindside and give them a potential tackle for the future.
Ward has been the Chiefs’ top cornerback for the last couple of seasons and rightfully so. Ward has been one of the better coverage cornerbacks the Chiefs have had since Marcus Peters. Given his status as a top corner for the Chiefs, there will more than likely be teams willing to outbid what the Chiefs can afford, meaning we’ve seen the end of Ward in KC.
By now you’d think we’d have covered all the bad news, but there’s more. This season the Chiefs are set to continue paying defensive end Frank Clark and linebacker Anthony Hitchens a combined $38,964,915 which counts for 18.59% of the team’s cap space. I suppose to be fair, Hitchens isn’t really that bad of a contract, but given his role with the team, something has to change.
However, one contract is clearly bad: Frank Clark’s.