Troubling $17.6 Million Update for Andy Reid as 9-Day Deadline Awaits Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs Before NFL Draft

Andy Reid is probably sitting somewhere with a cheeseburger in one hand and a playbook in the other, trying to figure out how the Chiefs will handle free agency. And honestly? It’s a bit of a mess. It’s high time for the team to make some tough decisions. Nick Bolton? Justin Reid? Well, these guys aren’t just random names for the Chiefs—they’ve been key pieces to this squad.

Now, the free agency is just 9 days away, and the future of these guys hangs in the balance. On one side, Bolton is ranked as the 13th-best free agent this year, while on the other, Reid hits the free agency one more time. Considering their impact, you’d think the Chiefs would want to lock them in. But nope, they’ve much bigger issues to tackle right about now. The thing is, the Chiefs are $17.6 million OVER the cap.

The Chiefs are $17.6 million OVER the cap. They must be under that in 9 days. Expect the Chiefs to start making moves very soon.

— Farzin Vousoughian (@Farzin21) March 3, 2025

Believe it or not, but that’s a fact. Andy Reid and crew need to start making moves and clear some space. After all, time is ticking. So, what are the options? Well, one way is to cut some players. Earlier, rumors suggested that Travis Kelce was considering retirement. If he had stepped away, the Chiefs would have freed up around $17 million in cap space.

But with Kelce returning for his 13th season, that option is off the table. That leaves other moves, like cutting or trading guard Joe Thuney. Doing so would free up $16 million, which sounds great—until you realize it would also leave behind $11 million in dead money, thanks to a previously restructured contract.

Speaking of the contract restructures—hmm, that’s where general manager, Brett Veach, will play his Mahomes card. But before we get into that, there’s another contract practically begging for a restructure—Chris Jones. Right now, he’s carrying a massive $34.9M cap hit for 2025, but here’s the thing—his deal was built to be tweaked. And guess what? The Chiefs have four full seasons to spread the money around.  Long story short: the Chiefs can flip some of his salary into a signing bonus and—boom—free up $20.7M in cap space without losing their star DT.

Meanwhile, one likely restructure candidate is the offensive tackle, Jawaan Taylor. Here’s the deal: the Chiefs offered him a four-year $80M contract back in 2023. And let’s just say this contract turned out to be controversial considering his inconsistent performance. Sure, Andy Reid and Co. are going to stick with him in the 2025 season. However, his contract is structured in a way that cutting him in 2026 would free up $20M. And that’s what Brett Veach is probably going to do in 2026.  Now, that left us with the most important contract restructure candidate of the Chiefs.

Is Patrick Mahomes going to be the ‘KEY’ for the Chiefs?

If we’ve to define Patrick Mahomes’ contract—then no doubt, it’s the Chiefs’ emergency cap space piggy bank. For now, Mahomes’ $66.3M cap hit for 2025 is massive. Now, if we flip some history pages, then it’s certain that there’s zero chance Kansas City lets that number stay untouched. Especially, with a $32.5M roster bonus that is also due for Mahomes on May 5.

So, connecting the dots, we can expect the Chiefs to pull out their usual magic trick. Pretty obvious—restructure Mahomes’ deal to push money in the future and clear some much-needed salary cap space. However, the question isn’t if they’ll do it. It’s how much they’ll shave off.

If they go all in, they could free up as much as $39M. But nope, that sounds a pretty extreme move that the Chiefs would surely want to avoid. Instead, we can expect the Kansas City team to take a middle-ground approach. They can clear just enough cap space to handle the upcoming free agency while keeping the QB’s deal flexible for future.

There you go, Patrick Mahomes at the rescue for the Chiefs. Once Again! After all this ranting, a couple of things turned out to be certain. One: Andy Reid and Co. need to make some crucial moves in the coming days. Second: the best option for them is to restructure Patrick Mahomes’ contract. Just like they did a couple of years ago.