We’ll continue here a position by position look at how the Kansas City Chiefs are utilizing their salary cap space with the defensive backs. ESPN Stats & Information showed the Chiefs to have about $2.9 million in available cap space, which is 30th among the NFL’s 32 teams.
Salary-cap commitments: $25,412,856. Eric Berry, $8,357,700; Sean Smith, $7,750,000; Ron Parker, $2,000,000; Tyvon Branch, $1,287,500; Husain Abdullah, $1,145,000; Jamell Fleming, $660,000; Phillip Gaines, $655,278; Marcus Cooper, $585,000; Kelcie McCray, $585,000; Sanders Commings, $572,378; Daniel Sorensen, $510,000; Deji Olatoye, $435,000; Aaron Hester, $435,000; Shaquille Richardson, $435,000. Note: Only the 51 highest figures currently count against the Chiefs’ salary cap, according to NFL rules, so all of these salaries may not figure into the team’s current cap number.
Percent of Chiefs’ total salary cap: 17.7
NFL average salary cap spending on defensive backs: $23,500,314
Chiefs’ rank in defensive backs spending: 13th among 32 teams
Analysis: The league average for spending on cornerbacks is about $14.6 million and a little less than $9 million on safeties, so the Chiefs are going against the grain on this one. They have about $14.5 million invested into safeties and about $11 million into their cornerbacks. Four of the top five defensive back cap numbers on the Chiefs are with safeties as opposed to cornerbacks. Smith is the only cornerback making more than the minimum salary. Well more than half of their cap allotment in the secondary goes to two players, Berry and Smith.
