According to Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star, the Chiefs will be about $7.5 million under the salary cap at the start of the new league year on March 12.
While that’s typically a decent position to be in, the Chiefs are expected to franchise WR Dwayne Bowe before Monday’s deadline, which means that they’ll need to free up some additional cap space pretty soon if they plan on using the designation.
Tagging Bowe would run them $11.4 million, which includes a 2o percent increase since they franchised him last year.
Teicher mentions DE Tyson Jackson and QB Matt Cassel as being the most likely candidates to be released.
Jackson has a ridiculous $17.5 million cap figure for the upcoming season. Releasing him could free up as much as $15 million in cap room and is almost a no-brainer at this point. The same can be said of Cassel, as cutting him loose would free up another $6 million in cap space for the Chiefs.
Cassel had little value to the Chiefs even before they had a trade in place for Alex Smith. With circumstances surrounding Bowe and possibility of re-signing OT Brandon Albert, it really makes a lot of sense for them clear the extra cap space now.
We have Bowe listed as the No. 6 best available player in our Top 50 Free Agents list.
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