Why the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t yet signed Tyrann Mathieu to an extension
Two seasons into his Chiefs tenure, as safety Tyrann Mathieu pondered the contrast between his stop in Kansas City and the two that preceded it, he paused.
And then you could see the moment the answer came to him.
“Well,” he said, just before a smirk. “I hope one difference is this stop is permanent.”
Mathieu, an All-Pro safety asked to overhaul the attitude of a defense that would adopt his personality, wants to extend his stay beyond the length of his initial contract, which expires at the end of the season.
The Chiefs want him back, too.
Simple enough, right?
Not so far. The why — or why not in this case — remains a talking point deep into training camp, and it looks as though it will accompany the Chiefs on their return to Kansas City from St. Joseph.
So what’s the holdup on a new deal?
Timing.
The Chiefs are juggling numbers within the constraints of a salary cap that significantly and unexpectedly dipped in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic — the revenue fallout is felt throughout the league, with contract negotiations for players like Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson, among others, not yet bearing fruit, either.
The result is a Chiefs roster that is already pushing against the cap limits in 2022, which is not unusual for a championship contender, but it leaves them unsure — just yet — how Mathieu’s contract extension squeezes into the larger picture.
To be clear, they can, and they certainly want to, squeeze it into the larger picture, but that ship becomes easier to navigate once other contracts for 2022 and beyond are in place. When it comes to Mathieu, this isn’t now or never.
It’s later.
“Things are going to work themselves out. I truly believe that,” Mathieu told The Star just ahead of training camp. “I don’t think there’s anything more I need to do. I don’t think there’s any more convincing.”
The Chiefs don’t either — they are convinced of Mathieu’s value as he enters his age-29 season — and for whatever blueprints they sketch for the future, he is included. No, the Chiefs don’t consider him too old or too expensive.
But at what contract? That answer will be easier to decipher after other numbers move from likelihoods to certainties. After other extensions. After roster bonus conversions and the like. After the NFL cap in 2023 and 2024 is revealed. Perhaps even after player cuts.
That’s a lot of unknowns today, but they all will eventually have resolutions. The Chiefs have a handful of other pending free agents following this season — left tackle Orlando Brown, cornerback Charvarius Ward, defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi and several others. They have four players with a cap charge of at least $20 million, according to Spotrac — Patrick Mahomes ($35.8 million), Chris Jones ($29.4 million), Frank Clark ($26.3 million) and Tyreek Hill ($20.7 million).
There are ways to make this all work, particularly inside a front office that has found someway, somehow to make it all fit for years with those escalating contracts.
But how will they pull it off? The order matters. Each future transaction will likely offer clarity that isn’t seen in the cut-and-dry numbers right now. Maybe those transactions come soon. Maybe they come later. But they, in turn, will aid precision in a salary-cap league that demands it. In oversimplified terms, perhaps, the Chiefs can find it more prudent to fit Mathieu’s contract into the entire puzzle rather than build the puzzle around his contract.
Because this is the NFL, and uncertainty happens.
If the Chiefs give Mathieu a big contract today and something unexpected happens over the course of the season — let’s say they need to reserve more funds for Brown or a pending free agent has a breakout season and now he becomes more expensive or they have a positional need that isn’t yet apparent — they’re stuck. With those other hefty paydays already on the books, they would either have to overlook the unexpected or cut other players to make it all work.
They can still do that. It would add risk. A reversal of operations — waiting to see where their cap situation stands before attacking the Mathieu extension — becomes a desirable preference. And it’s one the Chiefs have stuck with, at least for now.
When general manager Brett Veach assumed his role in 2017, he inherited a salary cap with financial bruises. The Chiefs have since been particularly careful with not only future investments but the structure of those investments. They rather famously now had a couple hundred bucks of cap space at one point last season before building a roster than fell one win shy of a Super Bowl repeat.
With Mathieu, it’s not a hardball stance or concern over some albatross of a number. They believe he deserves a payday. It’s how that number nestles into the salary cap. Which years that number hits the cap the hardest. How much that number can bend over its lifetime.
Mathieu, who turns 30 in May, wants to play late into his career and occupies a position in which some of his predecessors have proven it possible. He mentions Charles Woodson has one of his mentors, for example. Woodson played through his age-39 season.
Mathieu signed a three-year, $42 million contract ahead of 2019, an immediate propellant for a defense in need of a makeover. He brought a championship swagger, as he framed it, to a unit previously seen as a scapegoat. He is the unquestioned leader of the defense, a mentor for younger players and guide for veterans.
“Enough can’t be said about Tyrann and how we feel about him and his role both on and off the field here,” Veach said.
The risk in waiting, at least for the Chiefs, is if Mathieu has another All-Pro season, his price isn’t going to become any cheaper.
On Tuesday, the Seahawks made Jamal Adams the league’s top-paid safety, according to NFL Network, a four-year, $70 million contract that includes $38 million guaranteed.
It’s one domino in the safety market to fall.
The one in Kansas City remains upright.