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Kansas City Chiefs salary cap space entering the 2014 NFL offseason

Here's what the KC Chiefs are working with salary cap-wise as the 2014 NFL Draft and free agency approach this offseason.

By Joel Thorman
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

When head coach Andy Reid and GM John Dorsey took over the Kansas City Chiefs, they had a lot of money to work with. The Chiefs had cap space and rolled over another $14 million in cap space from the previous year. They made lots of moves -- maybe more than some of us expected -- and spent lots of that money.

So the Chiefs enter the 2014 offseason with plenty of question marks. They have areas they need to improve, contracts to restructure and players to release. And the reasoning behind all those moves is simple: salary cap space. The Chiefs need more salary cap space.

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Current cap space: $2.48 million

Estimated 2014 cap space: $799,944

The current cap space is the figured provided by the NFLPA. That number is right around the middle of the pack when you compare it to other teams. The estimated cap space comes from Over The Cap, which is just an estimate because the official cap number hasn't been set yet. Lots of things could happen that would affect that estimate. Here's another Over The Cap article that has more detailed information on Chiefs players and their cap hits.

Things that will happen soon that will affect the cap:

  • Some contracts could void (if any players have a provision in their contract)
  • The franchise tag can be applied on February 17 and automatically hits the cap. Branden Albert was this year's franchise tag player at nearly $10 million per year.
  • There will be cap casualties (veterans that are cut due to cap reasons). Dunta Robinson comes to mind given he didn't play very much this year. The Chiefs with the highest cap hits: Dwayne Bowe ($12 million), Eric Berry ($11.6 million), Tamba Hali( $11.4 million) and Brandon Flowers ($10.5 million). Go here to see how much the Chiefs would save if they cut any of those players.
  • Chiefs will issue tenders to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents.
We'll have lots of posts on what the Chiefs should do but until they make some initial decisions we're going to be guessing on what the best plan of action is.

Here are the Chiefs 2014 free agents

OFFENSE

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LT Branden Albert
G Geoff Schwartz
G Jon Asamoah
WR Dexter McCluster
WR Kyle Williams
DEFENSE
DE Tyson Jackson
LB Akeem Jordan
LB Frank Zombo
S Kendrick Lewis
DB Husain Abdullah
DB Quintin Demps
SPECIAL TEAMS
LS Thomas Gafford

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