It was not as pretty as in previous years, but thanks to the talent of Patrick Mahomes and the grittiness of their defense, the Kansas City Chiefs took home their third Super Bowl title in five seasons — defeating the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII. Kansas City now has a chance to become the first franchise in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls next season, and a possible three-peat starts with the moves the franchise makes in the offseason.
Acquisitions are always the focus once the season ends, but some of the toughest decisions are internal debates over which veteran players to cut to save money. The Chiefs currently have $22 million in salary cap space for 2024 but face some difficult free-agent decisions before the 2024 season begins. Defensive tackle Chris Jones and cornerback L'Jarius Sneed — two of the league's elites — are both free agents and the franchise must determine whether to re-sign them or let them go. With these concerns in mind, here are the top three cut candidates for the Chiefs this offseason as they look to open up cap space.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling (Wide Receiver)
Marquez Valdes-Scantling signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Chiefs leading up to the 2022 season with much of the money backloaded. The Kansas City wideout had some value in 2022, making $4.8 million while recording 687 receiving yards. In 2023, his cap hit doubled ($10.98 million) while his production was less than half of what it was the season before (315 receiving yards).
Valdes-Scantling carries a $13.98 million cap hit in 2024 — the 22nd-highest cap hit among NFL receivers. MVS has been nowhere near the production that justifies that sort of price tag. Cutting Valdes-Scantling at any point in the offseason saves the Chiefs $11.98 million, leaving the team with just $2 million in dead cap.
Kadarius Toney (Wide Receiver)
Kansas City needs to upgrade its wide receivers, but first, it must remove the dead weight. In 20 career games with the Chiefs, Kadarius Toney has just 41 catches for 340 yards. His miserable 6.3 yards per catch in 2023 would have put him among the worst in the league if he was eligible. Drops were also an issue, as Toney dropped five of his 38 targets (second-worst drop percentage if eligible).
The production has not been for Toney this year and the former New York Giants wideout became the primary scapegoat for the Chiefs' offensive struggles this season. Cutting Kadarius Toney means that Kansas City would eat all of his $2.5 million salary in 2024, but this move is for the best — both for the Chiefs and for Toney.
Lucas Niang (Offensive Tackle)
The one benefit of having a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes who eats up a large chunk of the salary cap is that the Chiefs cannot afford to hand out bloated contracts. Only seven players on the Kansas City roster carry a cap hit of $10 million or more in 2024. This includes stars like Travis Kelce and Joe Thuney alongside Mahomes. It also means that young standouts like Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis, and Isaiah Pacheco are still on affordable rookie deals. The takeaway? KC does not have a lot of dead weight on the roster.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling is the only clear-cut candidate, but if the team wanted to open up more cap room it could look to release Lucas Niang. The backup offensive tackle has played just 67 snaps over the last two seasons, providing him with little value to the Chiefs. Niang is also entering the final year of his rookie deal and carries a $1.3 million salary cap hit. The Chiefs would save $1.1 million by cutting Lucas Niang this offseason — a move that makes sense when the team can easily replace him with a rookie tackle.
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