For a team that just won its second Super Bowl in the past four seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs are the perfect example of how NFL clubs should handle their player-related finances.
According to PFF’s annual three-year salary cap health analysis, the Chiefs ranked among NFL teams squarely in the middle of the pack at No. 16. That’s slightly down from a season ago when they ranked No. 11 in the league. Still, some movement is to be expected as the team gets deeper into some more significant contracts and so on.
This ranking, compiled by PFF’s Brad Spielberger, focuses heavily on a team’s Top 51 veteran valuation, which they believe to be a great indicator of how talented a roster is. It also measures things like active draft capital, which refers to players who are still on their rookie contracts. Then, of course, you have projected salary cap space over a three-year stretch, money proration and a look at how much a team will have to spend on upcoming free agents. All of that data factors into this particular ranking, though some of it is weighted more heavily than others.
Here’s the breakdown:
- The Chiefs ranked No. 12 in the Top 51 veteran valuation with over $322 million.
- The Chiefs ranked No. 18 in active draft capital (21,565 points).
- The Chiefs ranked No. 19 in the league in projected cap space from 2023-2025 with nearly $156 million in available space projected during that span.
- The Chiefs ranked No. 5 in the league in total prorated money with $135.9 million.
- The Chiefs ranked No. 14 in the NFL in 2024 free agent valuation with $115.7 million in future commitments to consider.
Traditionally speaking, it has been hard to build a sustained winner in the NFL from a financial standpoint. Kansas City has impressed in that regard during the Patrick Mahomes era and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.
