Let’s take a look at some of the ways the Kansas City Chiefs can save some money - cap casualties. These are (mostly) veteran players who could save some money if cut. However, many of them leave dead money which is money that counts against the cap for a player no longer on the team. So you have to weigh that against the savings. I used the numbers from Over The Cap.
Saves a lot of money
QB Nick Foles: Saves $6.75 million ... I’d like to know where that $10.75 million number came from earlier.
RB Jamaal Charles: Saves $6.1 million.
Makes you think
DL Jaye Howard: He would save $3.8 million in cap space but leave $2.5 million in dead money. With the emergence of Chris Jones and impending free agency of Dontari Poe it’s worth monitoring this one.
P Dustin Colquitt: A savings of $4.1 million and only $800k in dead money makes you wonder. But he’s really important to special teams which is really important in KC.
OT Jah Reid: He saves nearly $2 million but leaves a little over $1.5 million in dead money. The Chiefs barely needed him this year but he’s cheap insurance at what the Chiefs consider a premium position.
FB Anthony Sherman: You start to get into some of these smaller savings. $1.8 million savings with $500k in dead money. He’s a special teams star too.
G Zach Fulton: $26k in dead money for over $1.8 million in cap savings. LDT is about the same here.
LB Frank Zombo: Saves about $1 million, leaves about $333k in dead money.
Doesn’t make sense to cut
QB Alex Smith: The Chiefs can save $9.7 million in cap space cutting Alex ... but they’d be on the hook for $7.2 million in dead money.
WR Jeremy Maclin: Similar to Alex, there would be more dead money ($7.2 million) than cap space saved ($5.2 million).
LB Tamba Hali: He can’t be cut at nearly $9 million in dead money and no savings. Why did they do his deal like this?
LB Derrick Johnson: He would save over $2 million in cap space but leave more than $5 million in dead money. Also, DJ says he will be ready for the season so this may not even be a real question.
DL Allen Bailey: He would leave $4 million in dead money while only saving a couple million. If it’s between him and Jaye Howard, cutting Howard is easier.