Loosening up the 2021 cap, Phase 1: Okafor

[Direckshun]

I've already complained (and some of you jerkwads counter-complained about me) about our lack of cap space in 2021. Lots of stuff is going to have to happen to make 2021 manageable.

The first just happened:

Kansas City Chiefs DE Alex Okafor appears to have done the team a favor.

According to a new report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Okafor has signed a restructured contract with the Chiefs. His newly agreed-upon deal clears $2 million in cap space for the 2020 NFL season. He’ll make a maximum of $4.96 million in 2020 according to Pelissero. That number includes $860K in per-game roster bonuses and an additional $2 million in incentives.

The new deal also makes it so that Okafor becomes a free agent in 2021. Okafor originally wasn’t slated to become an unrestricted free agent until the 2022 season. He originally signed a three-year deal worth just under $18 million in the 2019 offseason.

This is such a big win for the team, by the way.

The help Okafor's restructuring gives us for 2020 is solid, but it completely lops off his cap hit in 2021, when we need it the most.

Okafor wasn't going to play for us in 2021 anyway, we were going to have to cut him. Now he gets to walk as a free agent, and we get a potential 2022 compensatory pick out of it if he signs a decent deal.

2021 is still going to be very tight, but at least it's more scalable now. You can cut/trade Eric Fisher and restructure a few players and get the space you need.