In three weeks, the Kansas City Chiefs will need to be cap compliant as the 2026 league year begins in the afternoon of Wednesday, March 11. That sounded like a daunting task, given the over $50 million hole the Chiefs sat in heading into the offseason.
On Wednesday morning, that load was significantly lightened, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap.
The Kansas City Chiefs converted $54.45 million of QB Patrick Mahomes’ 2026 salary into a signing bonus to create some much needed cap room for the Chiefs. The move lowered Mahomes’ salary cap number from $78.2 to $34.65 million for 2026, opening up $43.56 million in cap room for the Chiefs. This will be the fourth straight year that the Chiefs have restructured Mahomes’ contract to improve their salary cap situation.
According to Fitzgerald’s calculations, Kansas City’s deficit will be reduced to $11 million — although Spotrac’s updated figure is $14.4 million. Regardless, general manager Brett Veach has given himself breathing room and still holds a strong hand of moves to allow the Chiefs to be ready for free agency and contract negotiations.
The Arrowhead Pride staff will break down the bigger picture of this move that bolstered Mahomes’ 2027 cap number to over $85 million soon. In the immediate future, this was a necessary lever to pull — and defensive tackle Chris Jones’ contract is in a similar position. To round out his article on Mahomes’ contract, Fitzgerald pointed to Jones being “the next logical restructure candidate.”
Currently, Jones’ 2026 cap number is nearly $45 million, but that number does not increase in either of the following two years. If that’s the next move, it likely puts Kansas City into green, but there would still be more work to do.
We’ll have more on the logistics of this move soon.