Four moves Kansas City Chiefs can make to create a hefty amount of salary-cap space
We got clarity Thursday about two players whose future with the Chiefs was muddled.
First, tight end Travis Kelce said he will return to the Chiefs for the 2025 season instead of retiring. And the Chiefs placed the franchise tag on guard Trey Smith and hope to sign him to a long-term deal.
Here’s what that means financially for now. Smith is projected to be paid $23.4 million under the franchise tag, according to OverTheCap. And Kelce’s cap hit for the 2025 season would be $19.8 million, Fox Sports said.
NFL.com reported Thursday that teams were told the 2025 salary cap will be $279.2 million, an increase of $23.8 million from a year ago.
The NFLPA’s salary cap information shows the Chiefs currently have $3.186 million in room, but that’s before the new year starts and with it the new cap number.
Still, the Chiefs have a number of players who will be free agents beyond Smith, and they are likely looking for a left tackle to shore up that part of the offensive line. That all will cost money.
Michael Ginnitti, the co-founder and editor of Spotrac, shared four ways the Chiefs could create room under the salary cap.
- Convert quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ roster bonus to a signing bonus (savings of $25.8 million)
- Convert defensive lineman Chris Jones’ roster bonus to a signing bonus (savings of $12 million)
- Convert Kelce’s roster bonus to a signing bonus (savings of $10 million)
- Extend guard Joe Thuney’s contract to two years, $40 million with a $20 million bonus (savings of $10 million)
The Chiefs (and any NFL team) can convert all or a portion of a roster bonus into a signing bonus. That reduces the base salary and allows the money converted into a signing bonus to be spread out over the remainder of a player’s contract.
And that creates more money for the team to spend in the short term.
“This does, however, increase the player’s yearly cap hits thereafter by pushing more dead money into future years,” an NFL.com story noted.
That would be a key reason why the Chiefs would hesitate to make the moves listed above. But it’s at their disposal if looking to create future cap space.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 8:52 AM.
