The Kansas City Chiefs are zeroed in on the 2022 NFL draft, which is set to begin on Thursday, April 28. The team won’t have to worry about their salary-cap situation while they add new players to the team via the draft. In fact, not much changed since the last time we updated you on the team’s salary-cap space.
According to the NFLPA’s public salary cap report, the Chiefs have $18.118 million in salary-cap space with 76 players under contract. That includes the contract for recently-signed free agent DT Taylor Stallworth. There haven’t been any big trades ahead of the draft this year like Kansas City dealt with last season when they acquired Orlando Brown Jr. from the Ravens.
The front office will need to account for the rookie pool in the 2022 NFL draft. With 12 selections in the draft, the Chiefs need roughly $3.5 million in cap space to sign all of those players to their rookie contracts. Should Brett Veach make some trades in the earliest rounds of the draft, that number could be even smaller.
When the draft and signing of undrafted free agents is concluded, Kansas City should still have over $14.6 million of cap space to work with to go bargain shopping in free agency. There are still quite a few impactful veteran free agents out there, including several on the defensive side of the ball who could help the Chiefs in 2022. Remember, the Chiefs can also free up some cap space by signing Orlando Brown Jr. to a long-term contract extension. He carries a $16.6 million cap hit so long as he’s on the franchise tag. The deadline to sign Brown to an extension comes in mid-July, but the team doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get a deal done.
