How the Kansas City Chiefs can create more cap space entering free agency

If Brett Veach wants to clear some cap space, he's got several ways he can still do so before free agency begins.

As the Kansas City Chiefs set about the task of signing free agents in the next several weeks, they're going to need to attend to the books in order to clear the requisite space to get some players to sign on the dotted line.

In years past, the Chiefs have come right out of the gate with signings early in free agency. Jawaan Taylor was an offensive tackle who signed for four years and $80 million a year ago, which meant the Chiefs needed to clear up enough space to at least handle the first year of his contract alongside the other salary commitments on the roster.

How will a team like the Chiefs clear enough cap space to get the job done? The NFL's salary cap for the coming season is set at $255.4 million, so if Brett Veach wants more cap space than he has now, he'll need to rework a few things. We've got at least some ideas for him here.

Restructure Patrick Mahomes' contract

At this point, if the Chiefs want to create some significant cap space, then it makes sense to start with the most expensive player in the game: quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes is scheduled for a $58.6 million cap hit for the Chiefs this offseason, which is tough to stomach even after the cap jumped much more than expected in the last year.

Should the Chiefs decide to restructure Mahomes' deal, even in part, they will be able to take a certain amount of his roster bonus or even his base salary and turn that into a signing bonus on an amended deal. That amount would then be spread over the life of the contract, which reaches into 2010.

Of course, those amounts would come due in the future, but it gives the Chiefs that choice on a yearly basis in case they want to free up cap space. Given the sheer enormity of this year's total, it makes sense to start there.