Chiefs best way to create cap space comes with a massive risk

The Kansas City Chiefs most definitely sit in an overall good spot roster-wise as they aim for a Super Bowl three-peat in the 2024 season. Sure, there has been an unsightly plethora of offseason drama that the organization has been forced to deal with. At the end of the day, though, the team has Patrick Mahomes, an improved wide receiver room regardless of what happens with Rashee Rice, and a defense that should continue to thrive.

Having said that, there is room for improvement on any NFL roster, even the Chiefs. Could there still be moves to make to reinforce the offensive or defensive lines further, to upgrade the depth at cornerback, or even to add another pass-catcher? Absolutely, and it's not out of the question for general manager Brett Veach to still make such a move.

To do so, however, the Chiefs might need to clear up a little bit of cap room. Sure, the organization has $15 million in cap space but to potentially make a move and still carry space into the regular season and possibly next year as well, they could have to maneuver to create some room.

How could they accomplish that? Bleacher Report's Scouting Department broke down the best ways for each NFL team to save cap space at this moment and, for the Chiefs, the top option was to restructure the contract of Jawaan Taylor. And on the one hand, that makes financial sense. But it's also not a move that comes without risk either.

Chiefs best cap-saving move is restructuring Jawaan Taylor's deal but that's a risky proposition

Bleacher Report notes that Taylor's guaranteed money on his current contract signed as a 2023 free agent all but runs dry by the 2026 season. However, they note what a restructured deal would mean for the Chiefs:

"A restructured deal would likely mean more job security for Taylor in the long run, but it would mean more cap savings now. They could restructure a portion of his $19.5 million base salary to create up to $12.6 million in space now and potentially add a void year to smooth out the hits in the latter years of his deal."

Creating up to $12.6 million in room would give Kansas City just shy of $30 million in cap space to work with, so that could certainly behoove the franchise if they had other moves to make. At the same time, the fact that this would be essentially cementing Taylor's long-term future with the Chiefs isn't without a large risk being incurred.

Taylor's first season with Kansas City this past year was anything but a smooth proposition. He led all NFL players in penalties (17) this past season, including being tied for the second-most false starts (8) and the second-most holding penalties (6). That's concerning enough but his performance when he wasn't committing penalties was an equally troubling matter.

Out of 81 qualified tackles, Taylor graded out as only the 72nd-best according to PFF ($). He was just about league-average as a pass-blocker, to his credit, but he was among the worst run-blocking tackles in the NFL a season ago. When you combine that with the issues around getting flagged more than any other player in the league, that certainly looks like a red flag.

And because of that red flag, you have to wonder if the Chiefs would truly be gung-ho about trying to lock up Taylor for longer terms with a restructured contract. My best guess would be that would depend largely on the move they would be looking to make with newfound cap space with a cost-benefit analysis. Then again, they believed in Taylor enough to sign him to a rich free agency contract initially, so perhaps they aren't as gun-shy as the data may have you believe.

Even if that's the case, though, the Chiefs using the method to clear cap space is both obvious and dangerous for the club. It would undeniably give Veach and the front office substantially more flexibility but relying on Taylor long term is hard to feel confident in based on what he showed in his first season in Kansas City.