The Kansas City Chiefs restructured the contract of wide receiver Sammy Watkins this week, and on Friday, ESPN's Adam Schefter explained the Chiefs' reasoning:
“Sammy Watkins re-did his deal in the last 24 hours with the Chiefs, freed up $5 million of cap space that they really needed,” Schefter said during an appearance on SportsCenter. “They were $171 under the cap — $171. Watkins frees up that money and in return, the Chiefs basically add on incentives to his deal. He's got $9 million worth of incentives in his contract that don't count against the cap right now.”
Kansas City also added another little nugget into the deal to sweeten the pot for Watkins:
“And the Chiefs also gave him a no-trade clause, which is very rare for a player — especially a wide receiver — but Sammy Watkins has a no-trade clause on the last year of his contract this year and will be a free agent again next offseason at the age of 27,” said Schefter.
Watkins has spent the last couple of years with the Chiefs and is coming off of a 2019 campaign in which he played 14 games and caught 52 passes for 673 yards and three touchdowns.
He then had a superb playoff run, logging 14 catches for 288 yards and a score en route to helping Kansas City win the Super Bowl. He finished with four grabs for 98 yards in the Super Bowl.
Watkins spent the first three years of his career with the Buffalo Bills before being traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 2017. After one season with the Rams, Watkins signed a three-year deal with the Chiefs.
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