The Kansas City Chiefs officially signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Blaine Gabbert on a one-year contract last week. Gabbert joins a crowded quarterback room behind Patrick Mahomes, now working alongside Shane Buechele and Chris Oladokun.
According to the folks at Over The Cap, the 33-year-old received a veteran salary benefit with a $1.165 million base salary in 2023. He’ll also get a $152K signing bonus and $940K guaranteed at signing. During the 2023 NFL season, he’ll count $1,092,500 against the salary cap. They’re not saving much against the cap with this type of VSB contract, but they’re also not paying the full amount. Right now, Gabbert’s contract comes in with the 31st biggest cap hit for Kansas City.
It’s a bit surprising that Gabbert didn’t fetch more from a team looking for a veteran backup quarterback. He just worked behind Tom Brady for four seasons in Tampa Bay. It really suggests that the Missouri native was thinking about fit and coming back to the Midwest.
While the Chiefs have maintained a veteran backup quarterback during the entirety of the Mahomes era, this contract hardly suggests that Gabbert is a lock to make the team. While the Chiefs wouldn’t save any money by releasing him, it’s not exactly a significant number of dead cap space to incur if Buechele were to beat him out for the No. 2 job.
