Kansas City Chiefs players will begin reporting to training camp later this week, putting us that much closer to real football.
The front office has the salary cap in a pretty good place as the team turns its attention to the 2022 NFL season. According to the NFLPA’s public salary cap report, the Chiefs have $13.924 million in salary cap space with all players on the 90-man roster currently under contract. That number is good for the 12th-most salary cap space in the NFL.
It also accounts for the $16.6 million franchise tag that Orlando Brown Jr. will play on during the 2022 NFL season. With the deadline to extend Brown on a long-term contract passed, the team no longer has the option of freeing cap space via the structure of an extension. The lack of a long-term deal also limits the types of moves that the Chiefs can pursue ahead of the start of the season.
If the team finds themselves with injuries, performance issues or simply wants to improve depth at a position, they have some cap space to do something about it. They could sign a free agent or a released veteran player during roster cuts without having to worry too much about how to foot the bill. At the same time, if Brett Veach is looking to trade for a player under contract with a large salary, that trade would likely be contingent on a player restructuring their contract.
There is also the possibility that the Chiefs hang tight and don’t make any significant use of this salary-cap space until later in the season around the NFL’s trade deadline. Whatever the possibility, they’re not without options and that’s a good place to be at the onset of training camp.
