Chiefs Salary Cap Will Be Significantly Affected by Tyreek Hill Starting Next Year
By Kevin Aquino
The Kansas City Chiefs payroll is going to look a whole lot different next year, specifically the number next to WR Tyreek Hill's name.
The two-time first-team All-Pro selection will see a $15-million jump in his salary next year after signing a three-year extension before Week 1 with the team who drafted him in 2016.
Bigger than that for the Chiefs, however, he goes from a $2.2M cap hit this year to $17.65M next year with a dead cap hit of $22.7M. In 2021, his cap hit is $15.7M, but his dead cap hit is only $5.3M, so they could theoretically get out of the deal then with minimal damage.
The cap #s for Tyreek Hill's new extension are $2.1m in '19, $17.6m in '20, $15.6m in '21 and $20.5m in '22.
— Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) September 10, 2019
Here's what's interesting: $15.2m of it comes via a roster bonus in '20, in addition to $9.7m of it in '21 & $13.5m of it in '22.
2022 is an option year, as well.
Hill suffered a collarbone injury during the Chiefs' first game of the 2019 NFL season against the Jaguars, but luckily for him and Kansas City fans, the injury won't require surgery. However, Hill is expected to miss a few weeks and could be put on the team's injured reserve.
The timing is certainly poor for Hill considering the extension, but the Chiefs' offense shouldn't sink without him -- unless, of course, Patrick Mahomes throws bad no-look passes all the time.
The Chiefs did base salary-to-signing bonus conversions for LB Anthony Hitchens & OT Eric Fisher, creating close to $10.6M in cap space for 2019. Accounting for these and Tyreek Hill’s extension, KC remains in solid cap position.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 10, 2019
The Chiefs shouldn't worry too much about Hill -- he's not exactly injury-prone, only missing one game in his three-season career. But if the clavicle injury is a little more serious than we are being led to believe, then at least knowing the location of the panic button would be a good start.