Interesting article here. Not a huge fan of Verderame but he was at the Super Bowl and he does go to the combine. I think he gets some tips, albeit from Terez (who is a nice guy).
Here is the most interesting part of the article. 2021 and 2022 would be extremely difficult to manage.
Originally Posted by :
What the Chiefs can do with their money
Looking at Kansas City’s cap situation, it can release wide receiver Sammy Watkins and linebacker Damien Wilson, clearing out $18.5 million in space. Combined with rollover money and already existing room, that’s enough cash for Veach to tag Jones, re-sign a few other pending free agents and extend Patrick Mahomes.
Speaking of Mahomes, the 24-year-old quarterback is likely to soon be the highest-paid player in the league. This is another important factor to consider.
Let’s play GM for a moment and do the following to the Chiefs’ roster:
•Cut Sammy Watkins
•Cut Damien Wilson
•Cut Cam Erving
Extend Patrick Mahomes on a five-year, $200 million deal
Use franchise tag on Chris Jones
Allow $10 million for free agents and draft picks
Keep $2 million in emergency space
Using the Jared Goff and Carson Wentz extension structures as a template, Mahomes’ cap hit would approximately be $11 million this season. Factor in Jones’ tag and the $12 million outlined above, and Kansas City is laying out $35 million.
The Chiefs could do it. But while it’s palatable for 2020, what about 2021 and beyond?
If Kansas City gave Mahomes the aforementioned extension, his cap number would be enormous in 2021, potentially the full $40 million figure. If the Chiefs also signed Jones to Clark’s exact deal, the cap number would be $22.7 million in 2021.
If we account for a slight rise in the NFL salary cap both this year and next, it’ll be around $210 million. Under these parameters, Kansas City would be looking at the following cap hits in 2021:
Patrick Mahomes ($40M)
Frank Clark ($24.2M)
Chris Jones ($22.7)
Tyrann Mathieu ($19.7M)
Tyreek Hill ($15.7M)
In total, the top five players on the Chiefs would be earning $122.3 million, or 58 percent of the salary cap.
Going into this offseason with a projected $200 million salary cap, only one team is currently allocating more than 50 percent to their top five players: the Los Angeles Rams at 54 percent.
Kansas City can always create cap space with extensions and releases, but tying up such a large chunk of money in five players is dangerous. The Chiefs would be largely unable to sign any other meaningful free agents for a few years — including their own — while being completely reliant on the draft to restock departing talent.
In his three years at the helm, Veach has proven to believe in acquiring top-shelf talent and filling in around them with low-cost, high-upside veteran deals (see: Damien Williams, Stefen Wisniewski, Mike Pennel) and rookie deals.
Jones certainly fits Veach’s profile. The question is if he fits into Kansas City’s payroll.
Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
I don’t think we will have that depth unless we nail the draft year after year which is obviously damn near impossible.
You can find depth in all kinds of places. [Reply]
Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
Here’s the big thing that we aren’t talking about enough when it comes to retaining Jones in my mind.
Say they re-sign him. You’ve got all your expensive stars in place, including:
- Mahomes
- Hill
- Kelce
- Schwartz
- Fisher
- Jones
- Clark
- Mathieu
Alright, so those 8 guys in combination take up a huge chunk of the cap while also putting you right back in the AFCCG if they’re all healthy. If they’re all healthy.
What happens as soon as one or even two of them go down to injury? Not even including Mahomes. Your roster is probably going to be bare enough elsewhere that you just can’t compete with the other contenders out there that have a deeper roster.
Now, if this cap goes way way up, then it may not be the same type of problem. But as is, this is our reality in my mind if Jones is kept at $20M per year. As soon as we lose one of those big 8, good chance we’re toast. Maybe that’s the case either way, idk. Thinking out loud.
That’s the thing.
Veach has PROVEN to be able to find minimal cost guys with huge upside and we have a massive all star coaching staff to develop young talent.
For every Bashaud Breeland we lose, Veach finds us a Chavarious Ward or a Rashad Fenton.
To me, this offseason is all about keeping as much talent as we can and having a strong draft to fill in any other holes. [Reply]
Something I’ve seen mentioned in a couple spots that goes beyond anything we could know about these players...
Which ones are content with one SB? Which ones want the next just as bad? I feel like the leadership on this team isn’t the type of dudes to become complacent. But some guys just wanna get paid, and if they win one SB on top of it, cool.
That’s a piece of the equation. And obviously why Veach will need to do his due diligence on potential ring chasers. [Reply]
Was listening to Nick Jacobs pod and he made a good point that Alex Okafor isn’t safe. We just can’t afford to pay an average DE that much regardless of signing Jones or not.
Speaks will be back, Tanoh will be back, Harris was intriguing, UDRFA Tim Ward was put on IR bc they like him. Also want to see if we can get Ogbah back if Jones is dealt. [Reply]
Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
I don’t think we will have that depth unless we nail the draft year after year which is obviously damn near impossible.
What AFC team has this depth you are speaking of? None...losing your best players screws every team.
As long as Mahomes remains healthy...they will be competitive. [Reply]
I messed around on over the cap for just a bit and extended Jones for 4 yrs/$80M, made some other moves, and had $31M in 2020 space still.
EDIT: the other moves I made were cutting Watkins, LDT, and Erving while extending Kelce and Mathieu for 2 years a piece. Not a lot really that still made keeping Jones much more plausible. [Reply]
Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
I messed around on over the cap for just a bit and extended Jones for 4 yrs/$80M, made some other moves, and had $31M in 2020 space still.
It’s doable. This is just all going to come down to Pat’s extension. How much it is, when it happens and how it’s structured. [Reply]
We basically will have to have cheaper role players, like having a 3rd safety and a punter accounting for nearly 7 million dollars of cap won't be doable anymore. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Mecca:
We basically will have to have cheaper role players, like having a 3rd safety and a punter accounting for nearly 7 million dollars of cap won't be doable anymore.
Or our shitty interior offensive line getting paid as much as they do. [Reply]
It would have their pick 34 and 75 to make it worth it. I think they'd be more inclined to trade Jones to an NFC team, but the Colts could certainly afford to pay him. [Reply]
It would have their pick 34 and 75 to make it worth it. I think they'd be more inclined to trade Jones to an NFC team, but the Colts could certainly afford to pay him.
This is part of the problem, if we trade Jones, who are we trading him to? We don’t want to trade him to a team that we’re going to see in the playoffs. At least I don’t. [Reply]