This is Saints related though tangential.

It really bugs me how many people act like the NFL salary cap is rocket science and don't take any time to understand it.

In the article below, Adam Schefter says it would be "incredibly challenging, if not impossible" for the Chiefs to clear the $32 million salary cap space to tag Chris Jones this offseason.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ly-sources-say

Now lets look at Patrick Maholmes contract:

https://overthecap.com/player/patrick-mahomes/5594

Prorated bonus can't be restructured, but in 2024 Maholmes is due $2.5 million base salary, $34.9 million roster bonus, and $0.55 million workout bonus, for a total cap number of about $38 million. All of that except about $1 million base salary can be restructured as a signing bonus. Maholmes contract runs through 2031 so thats 8 years from 2024-2031 that the money would prorate over. So the Chiefs could restructure about $37 million of Maholmes 2024 money to a signing bonus prorated over 8 years from 2024-2031 at $4.625 million a year clearing $37 million - 4.6 million = $32.4 million.

So, a highly paid famous sports writer is saying it would be "incredibly challenging, if not impossible" for the Chiefs to clear $32 million off their salary cap when that is exactly how much they would clear by restructuring the most obvious contract to restructure on their salary cap.

I am not saying the Chiefs should do this, but its just amazing to me that almost nobody understands how this works. I just figured it out from my criticism of Loomis. But whether you agree with Loomis or not, none of this is rocket science. The media is ridiculous for acting like it is.

Personally if I were running the Chiefs I would clear the money, tag Jones, trade him for picks, and draft a receiver with a pick.

Schefter is an idiot but what he said is that a restructure or release of too many players would be required. He is not wrong, still an idiot, just a lucky idiot.

You may have looked at the wrong line. Mahomes 2023 Cap Hit is $38MM, 2024 is $46.6MM. What you may be missing is that Mahomes was restructured in March of this year and is due an additional $6.7M. Add to that Mahomes has one of the most convoluted clauses in his contract that I have seen where his 2023 salary and bonuses become guaranteed on the third day of the 2021 league year. On the third day of the 2022 league year, his 2024 salary and bonuses become guaranteed and his 2025 roster bonus of $38.9 million becomes guaranteed on the third day of the 2023 league year. The clause guarantees his bonuses 2 years only.

Some of these cap issues are easy, this is a cluster f*** to work with and he just restructured this year.

It is complicated but I believe I am right other than a minor typo, I didn't look at the wrong line I looked one column to the left of the column you looked and used an imprecise term for it. Maholmes guaranteed salary for 2024 is $38 million. He also has $8.6 million in already prorated bonuses that hits the cap in 2024 so $46.6 million is his total 2024 cap number, but $38 million is the more relevant number for restructuring purposes because thats the amount of money in the categories where restructuring is possible. Already prorated bonuses can't be restructured and are considered part of the cap hit but not part of that years guaranteed salary.

I am sure most of that $38 million is guaranteed but I was not proposing that the Chiefs cut Maholmes. I was stating that they can restructure his contract. There is no prohibition on restructuring guaranteed salary or roster bonuses into signing bonuses, its essentially turning a guarantee into a check, which Maholmes would probably be fine with.

So my math on the Chiefs being able to restructure Maholmes to clear exactly $32 million cap should be valid. So if the Chiefs would have to restructure too many players to tag Jones, too many players is 1 player. I think Schefter may have just looked at base salaries and did not realized Maholmes has a $34.9 million guaranteed roster bonus that can be restructured just the same as a base salary.

Restructuring the same player two years in a row is noting exotic. The Saints restructure many of their stars many years in a row. I am sure some of the base salaries and roster bonuses we restructured were guaranteed already. All restructuring does is take salary and bonuses that are due that year and spread them out over the length of the contract for salary cap calculation purposes while the player gets the money immediately and helps his team 'win now' to improve his reputation as a winner. If a player has a base salary or roster bonus of $10-$20 million a year for two or more years in a row the team can restructure him each year to spread out each of those payments that is due against the cap.

I believe the Saints restructured Michael Thomas's contract 5 times in 4 year, in 2020, 2021, 2022, and twice in 2023. Michael Thomas has never had a base salary over $1.7 million or a roster bonus over $0.2 million because we have restructured his contract every single year to push the money down the road.

We're sixty seven million dollars over the cap. Is that good or bad? it doesn't matter with Khai Harley cooking the books.

We're sixty seven million dollars over the cap. Is that good or bad? it doesn't matter with Khai Harley cooking the books.

It's good for the players.
Bad for the team.