The Kansas City Chiefs are still going to face some tough financial decisions to make as free agency approaches as general manager Brett Veach reconstructs the roster for 2025. However, the league has made his job at least a bit easier with the unexpectedly high threshold for the NFL's salary cap in 2025. Markets will adjust accordingly, of course, but the Chiefs now have more margin to work with.
The NFL's salary cap range for 2025 came in on Wednesday, per ESPN's Dan Graziano, between $277.5 million and $281.5 million. That's a $22M to $26M bump from last season.
If you're wondering just how much that difference means for the cap, that's the entirety of Joe Thuney's cap hit for the Chiefs in 2025—a deal that the team would likely want to finesse in one way another (a likely extension to ease the pain). Given that the cap is just going to increase that much means that the Chiefs won't have to resort to so many financial gymnastics in order to accomplish their purposes—or at least that's the hope.
The Chiefs got some more wiggle room with the latest salary cap updates.
This could mean good things for fans who want to see either starting guard Trey Smith and/or linebacker Nick Bolton back in Kansas City on a second contract. Both 2021 draftees have performed well enough to earn life-changing money in free agency, and Smith in particular is going to have several suitors waiting to reward him for turning in a Pro Bowl performance in 2024 at the age of 25.
The Chiefs have said good things about both players and Veach has iterated a desire to bring both of them back. However, there are cost considerations to be made about investments at both positions when other needs are so prevalent. Do the Chiefs want another long-term lucrative deal along the offensive line to go with Thuney, Creed Humphrey, and Jawaan Taylor?
At the very least, the Chiefs are better positioned to make these calls knowing that being financially strapped won't force their hand as much this offseason. And while every other NFL team has the same newfound cap limits to use as well, the Chiefs' position as a perennial favorite should give them the edge over other franchises.