The Kansas City Chiefs had more than $20 million in dead money last year. That is salary cap space that is dedicated to players no longer on the team, usually because you released the player before their contract is up.
Dwayne Bowe, for example, had $9 million in dead money last year alone. So far in 2016, the Chiefs have matched D-Bowe in dead money. Over The Cap lists the Chiefs with $9.4 million in dead money.
$5.2 million of that comes from Ben Grubbs. He ended last season on IR with a neck injury. Grubbs had signed a four-year, $24 million deal in KC last year but was cut one year into it so it will cost them. This move only saved the Chiefs about a million bucks in cap space but it was a necessary one if his neck injury was serious enough. This isn't ideal but you're going to have free agent signings that don't work out. Not a big deal as long as it's not a habit.
Then there's Tamba Hali, who accounts for $4 million in dead money. I know he's still on the team so it's not your classic dead money but this is remnants of his previous contract so we'll file it under dead money. Sure, the Chiefs could've done a deal with Tamba before that deadline but the Chiefs were still paying that money at some point ... either this year or pushed out to future years. So they pay it all this year when they're in a decent position with the cap. I can get on board with that.
The rest of the dead money is minor. Grubbs and Tamba's deals, however, will hit the Chiefs cap in 2016.