Chiefs’ cap comfortable
 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/16657381.htm

Unlike the last two years, KC is $5 million under the salary limit.
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

The Chiefs had to resort to releasing players and renegotiating existing contracts the last two years so they could comply with the NFL’s salary cap.

They won’t this year. Salary figures obtained by The Kansas City Star show the Chiefs with 2007 cap obligations of about $104 million. That should be about $5 million under the league-mandated ceiling, which is projected to be about $109 million.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” president/general manager Carl Peterson said. “Being able to get Tony Gonzalez signed without having to put a large franchise cap number on him really helps. We’re not having to, as we did last year, look at how we can reduce enough to ensure that we’ll be under the cap.”

The Chiefs will have enough salary-cap space to do some significant free-agent shopping if they so choose. But Peterson and coach Herm Edwards indicated that the Chiefs probably wouldn’t be major players once the market opens next month.

“I’d like to think we’ll be active, but we’ll be selective,” Peterson said. “I don’t see us going out on the first day and making a big splash on anybody. If you go back and really look at the history of free-agent signings — and really the history of early free-agent signings and big dollars — more often than not, teams have been burned. We’ve all kind of gotten back to building the core of your team through the draft.”

Edwards pointed toward Super Bowl participants Indianapolis and Chicago as examples of how the Chiefs would prefer to build their roster. Both teams acquired players mainly through the draft.

“That’s what we want to do here also,” Edwards said. “We need to have good drafts and draft good young players. We will infuse it with some veteran guys, but at the end of the day, you want to draft your guys because that’s what becomes your program.”

The Chiefs can clear more salary-cap space before the start of the free-agency period by renegotiating player contracts or releasing players. Tackle Willie Roaf retired last season, but his salary cap number of almost $5 million is still on their books. It comes off once Roaf is officially placed on the retired list.

Peterson has identified quarterback Trent Green as a target for a reduced salary. Green has the Chiefs’ highest base salary at $7.2 million.

Defensive tackle Ryan Sims is a prime target to be released. Sims, the Chiefs’ top draft pick in 2002, costs the Chiefs slightly more than $3 million now against their salary cap but would cost them about $2.3 million against their cap if released.

A glance at the list of individual salary-cap figures shows the Chiefs haven’t always spent their dollars wisely. A cornerback, Patrick Surtain, has their highest salary-cap figure at more than $9.3 million.

Among those with the highest salary-cap numbers are starters in danger of being benched (Green and linebacker Kendrell Bell), backup defensive linemen (Sims and Eric Hicks) and a player who was a no-show last season (running back Priest Holmes).

A player’s salary-cap number includes his base salary and all or a portion of various bonuses given to the player either this year or at the time of his signing.

The Chiefs will use some of their remaining salary-cap space to re-sign their own potential free agents. The list is 18 players long and includes tackle Jordan Black, linebacker Kawika Mitchell, defensive linemen Ron Edwards and James Reed, and quarterback Damon Huard as potential unrestricted free agents.

Among the scheduled restricted free agents are defensive end Jared Allen, wide receiver Samie Parker and kicker Lawrence Tynes.

Peterson has also said the Chiefs would negotiate a new contract with running back Larry Johnson, who otherwise has three seasons remaining on the deal he signed as a rookie in 2003.

After all of the internal maneuvering, the Chiefs should have some cap space remaining for outside free agents. Defensive tackle and wide receiver are their biggest needs.

“We still don’t know how good of a free-agent market this is going to be,” Peterson said. “We’re still evaluating that.”

If we could just get a real life starting DT and then maybe a 2nd tier reciever.. I would be happy

I keep thinking Justin Gage might be a good possesion reciever

We'll get way more than that, tyton75.

However, King Carl should definitely take advantage of the wiggle room by creating more. Dump Sims. Dump Priest if he's not coming. Obviously dump Roaf. If Shields is retiring, well, there's even more room.

Look, this is a big opportunity offseason, but we have to tie up our loose ends here (resigning Allen and Mitchell) and renegotiate as much as possible (Green must take a hit, Hicks must take a hit, and so on).

That said, I like building through the draft. But Herm's gotta realize a great addition will need to come through free agency. We need another "Ty Law" grab this offseason.

As long as the Chiefs have a great draft and maybe sign 1-2 FA's I will be pleased.

Young DTs would be nice..another WR too..it would help if our QB could throw a deep-pattern..keep our best DTs and get some young blood too insert into games to rest our starters would really help the DL..a WR either drafted or free-agent would slow down blitzing defences against us..we have the TEs to keep the LBs from blitzing ...

Hicks can't contribute...he needs to be gone.

there is alot of fat that needs trimmed off of the roster. Just do it.

Genau. Just do it.

If '07 is going to be a rebuilding year, there's a lot more to team building than dollar signs. Sims and Hicks must go (just to name a couple), even if it means eating some $ in the short term.

I agree the draft is the preferred method or building a team, but Chicago has plenty of FAs on their team. John Tait and Muhamed come to mind.

I don't have the numbers in front of me but isn't there substantial evidence that teams generally don't get there $$$ worth in FA.

Sure there are hits & misses but generally I'd just like to see us draft young guys and play them.

It's a huge relief off of the cap if we can't get drafted players on the field and contributing.

John Tait hasn't come close to living up to his contract.

Why hasn't Roaf been officially placed on the retired list?

I don't pretend to be an expert on player salaries and GM type moves but can someone explain to me why Roaf is not on the retired list. Is it Carl holding on hoping for a return or is this standard practice to be listed this long after leaving?

Damn beat me to it. :)

The occasional rumor of his return still persists. I think Carl and Herm are holding out hope, as they are with Priest.

It would be great to have him back and destroying opposing defenses, but I would almost rather suffer through breaking in someone new because we need to get that position figured out for the future. Bringing Roaf back would just be a temporary band-aid for a larger issue.