Chiefs Have Plenty Of Salary Cap Space Entering 2012 Season

The Kansas City Chiefs currently have the second most salary cap space of any team in the NFL at $26.6 million, according to the numbers released by Pro Football Talk.

[Editor's Note: The NFL has different salary cap numbers which puts the Chiefs at $16.3 million in space.]

The Chiefs cap space means they could claim just about any player in the NFL if released. They have a ton of flexibility from a salary cap standpoint.

The numbers will change as the regular season hits but this is a good snapshot of where everyone stands.

The Jacksonville Jaguars lead the NFL in salary cap space with $28.7 million. Those two teams are well ahead of anyone else. The team with the seventh largest amount of salary cap space -- Cleveland Browns -- have half as much space as the Chiefs.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans both have $2.3 million remaining. The Chiefs Week 1 opponent comes in with the third least amount of space at $3.4 million.

The Chiefs likely aren't going to find more than maybe one starter on the waiver wire during the season. Starting-caliber players usually aren't released during the season but it happens occasionally. The Chiefs are in position to make a move if they need to.

Of course having lots of cap space also means you left money on the table during free agency. It remains to be seen whether the Chiefs will regret that moving forward.