BakoSaint

We could also trade some players to get some draft picks and long term cap relief. Michael Thomas to the Chiefs could make sense.

mapcow

nobody is gonna want Thomas; damaged goods.

BakoSaint

I disagree. I think we could get something for him because of the specifics of his contract which makes him a low cost rental. When we restructured his contract we converted almost all his base salary to an immediate bonus. He is not under contract for 2024 except for hypothetical void years designed to prorate that bonus and past bonuses. If we trade him this year we take all the hit against the 2024 cap and can't divide half of it into the 2025 cap, but that dead cap hit goes to us, the only thing that can transfer in the trade to the Chiefs cap is his $1.26 million salary (perhaps 800k only since some checks have already been cashed) and any future years salary or bonuses (of which there are none) so for the Chiefs he would be an $800,000 rental for the rest of the year. I don't know how his incentive bonuses work, so maybe that could be a tiny bit more if he stays healthy all season. But if you look at the Chiefs they have a Super Bowl team minus any good experienced possession receiver and their offense goes haywire when Kelce is out. If they can rent Thomas for $800,000 for the rest of the year for a late 4th round pick with a 7th coming back, or something along those lines, I think it could make sense. Jerry Jeudy has a cheap rookie contract too but maybe the Broncos want more cash. Courtland Sutton carries a $14 million base salary over 10x what Thomas would cost on their cap. They would not just get Thomas, they would get Thomas with a contract that largely is already cashed out so they pay next to nothing.

Since essentially all our contracts are like this, any trade provides a similar one year value to our trade partner. We already paid everyones salary in March. Anyone we trade to another team have all but $1 million of their 2023 salary already paid so they are very cheap for one year.