Chiefs Cap Space Headed into the 2022 Off-Season

A primer for the off season and how to create a lot more space

The Kansas City Chiefs have a lot of work when it comes to offseason moves. As it sits right now the Chiefs have $15.1 million in cap space for 2022. The problem with that is that they only have 38 players under contract in 2022 without accounting for newly signed reserve future contracts.

A Salary Cap Primer

Most teams will have between 70-80 players on the roster throughout the year between a 53 man roster, injured reserve, and currently a 16 player practice squad. If you figure an average of 60 players on an NFL roster, the cost of filling out the roster for the season would be around $15.5 million for the 22 additional players on the roster at a league minimum of $705,000 per player. This doesn’t include the close to $2 million that the Chiefs will pay for their practice squad for the 2022 season which means the Chiefs are about $2.5 million shy in cap space of being able to cover additional player costs at league minimum salaries in 2022.

This also doesn’t include what most teams will want to have to navigate the season. The Chiefs have been closer to $5 million of cap space when the season kicks off to give them room to make moves throughout the season. Between additional players, the cost of the practice squad, and having enough operating room the Chiefs are closer to $7.5 million short of what they will likely want to operate in season.

As a quick reminder about how the salary cap works there are a couple of things to mention. First, during the offseason, the salary cap is only reported as the top 51 players on the roster. This means that while most clubs will average close to 90 players throughout the offseason the salary cap only accounts for the top 51 paid players. The cap is set up this way as it allows teams to fill out mini-camp, OTA’s, and training camp with additional players without having to open up more cap space.

Second, this offseason difference reverts back to every player on the roster at final cut day. In 2021 that day was August 31, 2021, which was the Tuesday after the last preseason game was played. At the point when the salary cap reverts back to every player, that will include the regular roster, injured reserve, or any other reserve designations and the practice squad players.

How to Create Space - Patrick Mahomes

When the Chiefs signed Patrick Mahomes to his contract the structure of the contract was set up to give the Chiefs as much flexibility as they could have. The use of roster bonuses throughout the contract allows the team to move money into future years with conversions to signing bonuses. These conversions are built into the contract and the team has the ability to make the conversion without the player having to sign anything.

This year the Mahomes’ roster bonus is $27.4 million dollars which is due on the third day of the league year. With a conversion to a signing bonus, the Chiefs will free up $21.92 million of cap space for the 2022 season. The $21.92 million will be spread over the next 5 years of the contract which they can continue to do because Mahomes is under contract through the 2031 season.

With that singular move, the Chiefs would have about $37.5 million of cap space. This would give them plenty of cap space to move into the offseason, sign their draft class and make a FA signing or two. This still doesn’t take into account filling out the rest of the roster but it gives you an idea of how the Chiefs can quickly create room.

Other Salary Cap Moves to Create Space

Of course, that one move isn’t likely to be the only move the Chiefs will make this off-season. Kansas City has several moves that they are likely to move that will clear cap space. They are likely to release some veterans from their contracts which will free up considerable space.

Defensive starters Frank Clark and Anthony Hitchens are likely to be cap casualties this offseason. Anthony Hitchens currently has one more year on his current contract. His salary-cap number for 2022 is a little over $12.6 million but none of it is guaranteed. If the Chiefs decide to move on from Hitchens they are looking at having dead cap space of just over $4.2 million but they would free up over $8.4 million.

Frank Clark’s contract with Kansas City is a little bit of a different animal. Clark is under contract through the 2023 season but starting in 2022 none of his salary is guaranteed. The Chiefs are likely going to cut Clark but the question becomes as to when they will make the move. Because of the amount of money left on Clark’s contract the Chiefs may look at cutting Clark with a post-June 1 designation. Doing this would allow the team to split the dead money created by cutting Clark between the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

While Frank Clark does not have guaranteed money left on his contract the Chiefs do have his prorated signing bonus that they have to deal with. The proration of the bonus leaves $6.8 million for 2022 and 2023 that the Chiefs will have to pick up when they cut Clark. If KC cuts Clark without the June 1 designation they will free up $12.7 million in cap space. If they cut him with a June 1 designation they will free up $19.5 million in cap space.

These couple of moves would allow the Chiefs to create significant cap space for the 2022 season. If they designate Frank Clark as a June 1st cut then between the Hitchens being cut, Clark being cut and a Mahomes restructure the Chiefs would have $65.4 million in cap space. There are some other moves that the Chiefs could make as well with restructures with other players to create more space or even an extension or two that could be made.

These articles will build on each other and will be linked so you can easily access each article to see the different parts moving forward. I plan on having another article coming soon regarding the Chiefs’ free agents and what it could cost them to keep those players.