One of the major obstacles for the Kansas City Chiefs early in the offseason is money. General manager Brett Veach remains well over the salary cap with free agency less than a month away, which could make it quite difficult to add players to the roster.
Fortunately for the team, its best player is helping come to the rescue a bit. A new development with quarterback Patrick Mahomes‘ contract is great news for the franchise.
Chiefs Restructure Patrick Mahomes’ Contract, Clear Significant Cap Space
Per a Wednesday report from Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, the Chiefs have restructured Mahomes’ deal. ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed the news roughly an hour later.
“Chiefs restructured Patrick Mahomes’ contract to open up just under $44M in cap space,” Fitzgerald’s tweet read.
This move has a huge ripple effect on Kansas City’s cap situation. Per Schefter, the restructure lowers Mahomes’ 2026-27 cap hit from $78.2M down to $34.65M. That moves the organization $43.56M closer to breaking even — a massive chunk of change. The Chiefs remain an estimated $11.3M above the cap as of the publishing of this article.
Potential maneuvers to make more room are available. For example, releasing right tackle Jawaan Taylor ($20M in savings, $7.4M in dead money) and defensive end Mike Danna ($8.9M in savings, $2.2M in dead money) would be a nice start. Moving on from linebacker Drue Tranquill ($6M in savings, $1.5M in dead money) or restructuring deals of other in-house pieces are also potential avenues.
Per Over The Cap, Mahomes now carries a staggering $85.3M cap number for 2027-28. That comes with $89.5M in dead money and -$4.3M in savings if released (which obviously won’t happen). It’s this writer’s take that the cap hit is a non-issue; another restructure could take place a year from now, or a new deal could be constructed to help change the math in a good way.
Mahomes & Kansas City Eyeing Return to Form in 2026
It’s safe to say that this past season didn’t go how the Chiefs or their superstar signal-caller wanted. First and foremost, the team went 6-11 and lost its final six contests. An impressive streak of making deep playoff runs was snapped in the process. In Week 15’s defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers, Mahomes sustained a torn ACL. He plans to return for Week 1 of the upcoming campaign, but he still has a long road ahead.
A return to peak form would be a welcome sight for everyone involved. It feels like forever ago that Mahomes led the Chiefs to their first of back-to-back Super Bowls in 2022-23. That was his last MVP-winning season. Since then, however, he’s seen his yardage and touchdown totals decline every year.
Last season was nothing special for the three-time champion. He completed just 62.7% of his passes, a career-worst mark, with only 22 touchdowns and a personal low 47.9% success rate. He failed to crack 90 in the passer rating department (89.6) and saw his sack rate rise above 6% for the first time in his illustrious career.
Some advanced metrics were kinder to Mahomes’ play, though. His QBR spiked to 68.5, his best since the aforementioned 2022 effort (79.0). Additionally, per SumerSports, he ranked seventh among quarterbacks with 100+ plays logged in EPA per snap (0.16). Only four field generals racked up more rush EPA than his 29.16, and that’s with him missing multiple outings.
For the Chiefs to return to the mountaintop, they need their all-world player to do the same.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Chiefs Make Major Patrick Mahomes Contract Move: Report appeared first on Heavy Sports.