Fresh off of a Super Bowl appearance, the Kansas City Chiefs are still well on their way to asserting themselves as the NFL’s next dynasty. Led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his full array of offensive weapons, this team should be the favorite to win most Super Bowls for the next 5+ seasons.

Their defense, however, was gashed by Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, hence why they were not able to become a repeat champion. Outside of Frank Clark, Chris Jones, and Tyrann Mathieu, this side of the ball is undoubtedly lacking talent.

The biggest issue facing the Chiefs, as it is for all 32 teams in the league, is the crunched salary cap that is expected to settle around $175 – $180 million for the 2021 season, a decrease in over $15 million from this past season. With cuts likely facing each and every team this offseason, the Chiefs will have to make one of those moves themselves, especially since they are staring down just under $18 million of money over the projected cap at this point.

Likely Cut Candidates

By looking at positional spending for this team, there are a few players on each side of the ball that could be seen as likely cut candidates, but only one really stands out as the likeliest.

On offense, running back Damien Williams and right tackle Mitchell Schwartz could be seen as cap casualties this offseason.

Damien Williams, Chiefs

For Williams, he opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 reasons, opening the door for rookie back Clyde Edwards-Helaire to come in and take essentially all starter reps. After a strong season that saw CEH cement himself as a solid, cheap option moving forward, the 29-year-old Williams, who holds a $2.7 million cap number on the final year of his two-year extension, would clear up over $2.1 million in cap space while only leaving $533k in dead cap if cut before or after June 1.

The 32-year-old Schwartz, who holds a $9.48 million cap number according to Over the Cap, is likelier to go than Williams, due to his larger cap number and the amount of savings that would be incurred if cut. If cut at any point this offseason, Schwartz would help clear just under $6.1 million in space while leaving behind $3.75 million in dead cap.

On defense, free safety Tyrann Mathieu and inside linebacker Anthony Hitchens hold the third and fourth-largest salaries on that side of the ball, behind Clark and Jones. While Mathieu certainly does not look like a likely candidate, Hitchens fits that bill perfectly.

Mathieu’s cap savings of $14.8 million against a dead-cap number of $4.9 million would immediately clear just under $10 million in space and help out the cap sheet immensely. The problem here lines in the fact that Mathieu is one of the league’s best roving safeties and is playing some of his best football, plus the Chiefs have no internal stop-gap option to fill his spot if he were to be released.

But for Hitchens, the Chiefs would be able to get out of the final two seasons of his contract with a post-June 1st release this offseason. By holding off until that date, KC would only be on the hook for $8.4 million in dead cap for those two seasons, while saving $14.9 million against the cap. Hitchens is certainly a serviceable, starting linebacker for this team, but his savings makes it quite likely that this past season would be his last with the Chiefs.

Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce

Certainly, Kansas City could look to extend or restructure some players, like left tackle Eric Fisher, tight end Travis Kelce, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, Clark, Jones, or others, but freeing up a roster spot and not kicking the can further down the cap sheet (through either an extension or restructure) certainly would benefit general manager Brett Veach. The Chiefs have been able to build a championship roster around Mahomes by sticking to what they know, not making any bad investments (outside of WR Sammy Watkins), and hedging their bets around a potent offensive attack being able to carry an up-and-coming defensive unit.

It costs a lot to regularly be in the hunt for a championship, and with how Mahomes has been playing, that is a cost that Veach and the front office will be willing to pay every day of the week and twice on Sundays. But there are going to be a lot of tough decisions made this offseason with the cap crunch, and while there will be some really good players out on the open market, it may also open up opportunities for ring-chasing players to join the likes of Kansas City, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, Green Bay, Buffalo, and other teams that look to be at or near the top of their respective leagues.