Report: contracts for Eric Fisher and Anthony Hitchens reworked to create cap space

According to a report from ESPN’s Field Yates, the Kansas City Chiefs have reworked the contracts of left tackle Eric Fisher and linebacker Anthony Hitchens.

Yates reported that the changes in their contracts — which converted salary to signing bonuses — will create just under $10.6 million in salary cap space for the Chiefs in 2019.

Before their restructure, Fisher and Hitchens’ contracts represented two of the four biggest cap expenditures the Chiefs had on the books for 2019.

As we reported on Tuesday morning, the Chiefs have also recently moved on from two injured fringe players — cornerback Michael Hunter and wide receiver Gehrig Dieter — creating a smaller amount of cap space by making injury settlements with both.

This larger move should more than replace the money the Chiefs spent against the 2019 salary cap with the free agent signing of running back LeSean McCoy — whose cap hit for 2019 is $3 million — and the contract extension given to wide receiver Tyreek Hill over the weekend.

Per OverTheCap.com and Spotrac.com, as of Tuesday morning, the Chiefs had somewhere between $11.1 million and $12.8 million in cap space; neither site’s figures included Hill’s extension or the reported restructure of Fisher and Hitchens’ contracts.

Like the injury settlements for Hunter and Dieter, this is another indication that a contract extension for defensive tackle Chris Jones — or another roster or contract move — could be approaching. Or it might just mean that general manager Brett Veach is simply keeping his options open for whatever may lie ahead.