Kansas City Chiefs fans knew the team didn’t have a ton of room to make moves this offseason. It turns out the room to maneuver right now is smaller than most people likely realized.
NFL insider Field Yates took to Twitter on Monday morning to lay out the teams that had the smallest amount of cap space in the league. It turns out the Chiefs not only have the smallest amount of space against the cap in the National Football League, but that space is less than $200.
No, that isn’t a typo. There weren’t any zeroes accidentally left off. Yates is reporting the team has exactly $177 left to spend. In other words, Kansas City might as well have $0.
It gets even worse when you look at just how big the gap is between the Chiefs and the next team on Yates’ list, which featured the teams ranked 24 to 32. At number 31 is the New England Patriots with $891,775. Number 30 is an even bigger jump — the Atlanta Falcons with $7,530,188.
Those numbers also illustrate why the New England Patriots decided they wanted to let Tom Brady walk. The two teams at the bottom of the list simply don’t have any room to add. At least not right now. Even after losing players like Blake Bell and Reggie Ragland.
The dollars show exactly why there’s talk of trading Chris Jones. He is included in the Kansas City Chiefs’ current total. The team tagged Jones in order to make sure they could retain his rights.
That franchise tag is a big reason why there’s so little room to move now. It’s why the team is rumored to be seriously considering trading Jones for future draft picks and salary relief.
Chiefs fans need to keep in mind there are still moves that need to be made. Even if the team doesn’t trade Jones, they have five draft picks coming up in April. And if they decide not to keep all five players they select, the early-round choices are going to cost more money.
There is also the stated goal by the Chiefs to sign quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a long term deal. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins is another player who is an assured liability at this point. So far, KC hasn’t shed his salary by releasing him, despite most analysts believing it’s coming at some point.
With a cap number that small, Kansas City Chiefs fans are going to see more moves this spring. Just what they might be is anyone’s guess. There is quite a bit of conversation about restructuring, but it’s not clear what would create room for the team to move under the cap.