Salary Cap could exceed $220 million

[RunKC]

Was $208 million this year.

https://www.nfl.com/_amp/salary-cap-...estions-remain

If we carry over our almost $5 million in cap then next year we have over $40 million in cap space before any cuts.

So basically gonna have a lotta money dawg

[chiefzilla1501]

Also, much as I hope kelce has years and years left, we have to plan for life without him. I think we’d find out the limitations of our WRs very quickly without him. I love our WR room but everyone needs to be bumped down a spot for this to work. We don’t have a WR1. And it’s intriguing to think what mahomes would be like if he had a more traditional WR1. Not just tyreek where every WR has speed. An athletic WR with size and speed.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Buffalo and Cincinnati are great examples of why I don’t love this. There are offenses that are just really really good and they’re going to get theirs against us. We can beat these teams in shootouts. I don’t love having to beat these guys with a balance of defense and an offense that does just enough.

Over the past few years what has lost it for us in the playoffs? Last year it was our offense. The year before our offensive line. Hell the defense bailed our offense out in the Super Bowl until we got it together in the 4th.

Our offense has become very efficient. But we know we are capable of so much more than that. We still have games like cincy and Tennessee and vs the rams where we are really really grinding for yards. Our production really downplays that these games were really difficult for our offense. Our WRs don’t match up well against really physical teams. And some teams have been able to figure out kelce just enough to make it real difficult for everyone else. Hell, we don’t necessarily have this version of kelce for too too long. We know mahomes can power his way through these games but he shouldn’t have to. We know he can flat out dominate if you surround him with talent.

I think veach has shown he can still build a solid defense without a whole lot of resources. It does feel like he needs a lot of investment to make them truly great. Meanwhile, do you think any defense is stopping us if we add a mclaurin or metcalf?

For '23 and 24'? No, I don't think you can count on beating Cincinnati in a shoot-out.

I don't think we can assume we can match Chase, Boyd, and Higgins no matter how much we spend.

And Burrow is good enough to go toe to toe with Mahomes. IF he has time to throw.

I think THAT is the key. But after '24, they'll be paying Burrow, and will have to make decisions on Chase, Boyd, and Higgins, and the institutional advantage they currently enjoy will level out. So if I'm Veach, I'm looking to fix the OT situation, and I'm investing in the defensive line.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Also, much as I hope kelce has years and years left, we have to plan for life without him. I think we’d find out the limitations of our WRs very quickly without him. I love our WR room but everyone needs to be bumped down a spot for this to work. We don’t have a WR1. And it’s intriguing to think what mahomes would be like if he had a more traditional WR1. Not just tyreek where every WR has speed. An athletic WR with size and speed.

Well, we have two other TE's that are developing nicely as weapons. No, they're not Kelce, but literally nobody that's ever played the position is.

If we had OT's that could ****ing block, this offense would look even better.

We should NOT spend a #1 or a ton of money for a WR in free agency. Lots of elite WR's come from other rounds in the draft. We should take one every year SOMEWHERE, but not at the exclusion of the gaping holes we have at OT and D-line.

[OKchiefs]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Well, we have two other TE's that are developing nicely as weapons. No, they're not Kelce, but literally nobody that's ever played the position is.

If we had OT's that could ****ing block, this offense would look even better.

We should NOT spend a #1 or a ton of money for a WR in free agency. Lots of elite WR's come from other rounds in the draft. We should take one every year SOMEWHERE, but not at the exclusion of the gaping holes we have at OT and D-line.

Not in 2023 we shouldn’t, but look at the current list of FA WRs in 2024. Many will be signed before then, but the market is absolutely loaded. We can potentially address OL/DL this coming year and then find a top notch WR the following offseason.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

For '23 and 24'? No, I don't think you can count on beating Cincinnati in a shoot-out.

I don't think we can assume we can match Chase, Boyd, and Higgins no matter how much we spend.

And Burrow is good enough to go toe to toe with Mahomes. IF he has time to throw.

I think THAT is the key. But after '24, they'll be paying Burrow, and will have to make decisions on Chase, Boyd, and Higgins, and the institutional advantage they currently enjoy will level out. So if I'm Veach, I'm looking to fix the OT situation, and I'm investing in the defensive line.

they’re going to be tough to stop no matter what. Buffalo tried this by loading up their defense to stop us. So far it hasn’t worked. Mahomes thrashing defenses is inevitable. I think the same goes for burrow and allen. I can’t imagine the frustration for buffalo with all they’ve invested in their defense for us to have our way with them last year. The difference between this year and last year isn’t our defense. It’s our offense. As much as mahomes has gotten better we still have stretches where receivers flat out aren’t getting open.

What bothers me more about the buffalo and cincy losses this year isn’t that our defense didn’t do enough. It’s that our offense had stretches where they look stuck. You expect a defense to have challenges vs burrow no matter what. But we know our offense is capable of being unstoppable. that is every bit receivers getting open as much as it is OL issues. Too many coverage pressures. We need a WR1. you know what also helps pass pro? A WR who can quickly beat press. Who can bail his qb out on jump balls. Who can quickly find spots in the middle. Because we are having issues with very physical secondaries.

I agree we need to upgrade our tackles for sure. But do we have to pay top dollar to do it? Or at the expense of the right kind of WR1. That’s where I don’t agree. It seems people are content to have a balanced team with an extremely efficient offense. I want ti go back to stomping on peoples throats with our passing game.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

Well, we have two other TE's that are developing nicely as weapons. No, they're not Kelce, but literally nobody that's ever played the position is.

If we had OT's that could ****ing block, this offense would look even better.

We should NOT spend a #1 or a ton of money for a WR in free agency. Lots of elite WR's come from other rounds in the draft. We should take one every year SOMEWHERE, but not at the exclusion of the gaping holes we have at OT and D-line.

What do our WRs look like when kelce isn’t drawing doubles and triples? Or when he isn’t there to be an automatic catch. If we lose kelce I think we figure out our WR room limitations very very fast. Again, I think we’re mostly there. But every WR needs to bump down one spot. Hell, what did Tennessee do? They limited kelce. And our offense looked completely stuck. Because our WRs right now feel like system guys.

[penguinz]

Originally Posted by Hoover

That’s what he’s making this year give or take. Come on man

JuJu has a $3M cap hit. he is on a very cheap contract.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

they’re going to be tough to stop no matter what. Buffalo tried this by loading up their defense to stop us. So far it hasn’t worked. Mahomes thrashing defenses is inevitable. I think the same goes for burrow and allen. I can’t imagine the frustration for buffalo with all they’ve invested in their defense for us to have our way with them last year. The difference between this year and last year isn’t our defense. It’s our offense. As much as mahomes has gotten better we still have stretches where receivers flat out aren’t getting open.

What bothers me more about the buffalo and cincy losses this year isn’t that our defense didn’t do enough. It’s that our offense had stretches where they look stuck. You expect a defense to have challenges vs burrow no matter what. But we know our offense is capable of being unstoppable. that is every bit receivers getting open as much as it is OL issues. Too many coverage pressures. We need a WR1. you know what also helps pass pro? A WR who can quickly beat press. Who can bail his qb out on jump balls. Who can quickly find spots in the middle. Because we are having issues with very physical secondaries.

I agree we need to upgrade our tackles for sure. But do we have to pay top dollar to do it? Or at the expense of the right kind of WR1. That’s where I don’t agree. It seems people are content to have a balanced team with an extremely efficient offense. I want ti go back to stomping on peoples throats with our passing game.

It's not a WR problem. It's a tackle problem. We don't need a #1 WR, they need the billion dollar QB to not get antsy in the pocket and the T"s to not get blown by.

[O.city]

The offense is better this year than it was last year.

Of course you'd like to keep Hill, he's gone. Move on.

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by Sofa King

Salary cap discussion brings out the dumbest in people. This thread is going to be scary.

There are some reasonable people with acceptable takes, but you are correct, the majority have unreasonable numbers for what players will get. Goes back to my comment above...comments like this:

"Oh yeah, we should keep JuJu if he's willing to take 3 years, $18 million. Guy has to give us a discount because we know he really wants to play with Mahomes"

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by OKchiefs

Not in 2023 we shouldn’t, but look at the current list of FA WRs in 2024. Many will be signed before then, but the market is absolutely loaded. We can potentially address OL/DL this coming year and then find a top notch WR the following offseason.

Sure, but a huge cost. What we do between now and then will determine whether we can afford to get into that arms race. Or whether we NEED to.

We've got Toney for 3 years cost controlled. Get that kid into a yoga studio all offseason, and maybe we've got something.

Skyy Moore, despite a slow start (which should have been expected) has been coming on.

We have a decision to make on Juju and MVS. We have a decision to make on Hardman, who despite not becoming a true #2 is still a real weapon. Missing time this year actually helps the numbers come contract talk time.

Take another WR in the 2nd-4th rounds to develop and see where you're at in '24.

[RockChalk]

Originally Posted by Nickhead

some don't want rings, they simply want the money

I would argue that most (if not all), especially those under 35, want money. But there are always a number of idiots on here who have this fairy tale notion that players are in it to win championships.

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

You can upgrade terrible to average. I agree we can’t just leave a hole but you don’t have to put top 10 money into it either. Based on what we saw from veach his two places he wanted a big swing was wr and DE.

I think mahomes and Reid’s greatness is overrating our WRs. We shouldn’t just expect our pass offense to be efficient and for mahomes to carry all the water. We have the coach and qb to be elite. And while mahomes has been magical, games like Tennessee, cincy and buffalo were challenging for us offensively. We struggle with defenses who play very physical against our WRs. Several of our WRs disappear in stretches.

The reality is our defense can only do so much against powerhouse offenses line Cincinnati and buffalo. And in each of our biggest games (cincy 2x, and buffalo) it wasn’t the blocking or defense that let us down. It’s because we didn’t score on our last possessions. I just think you need to build the best possible passing game, and then you work hard to try to make the rest of the team as good as possible. I just don’t see a stud tackle moving that needle nearly as much as a stud WR

I 100% disagree and especially against Cincy. The Bengals have routinely gotten a lot of pressure on Mahomes and they've done it quite easily in big moments. I think your view of the effectiveness of our WRs is off the mark. The WRs get open. They got open in the AFC title game last year and they have gotten open in games this year. Mahomes just doesn't have the time to go through proper read progressions because of the immediate pressure on such a high volume of plays.

The other thing about it is that Mahomes, for as good as he can be, is behind the mark on just taking what the defense gives him. Too often he's looking for select weapons, and especially Kelce, instead of just finding the open man. It was terrible in the AFC title game in the second half and it's been terrible in some big moments in tough games this year again. He has to start taking what's there and trusting other guys to make the play. If he doesn't do that, you can give him three #1 caliber WRs in there and it won't matter. He has improved some this year, but he's still going with hot reads when he shouldn't too often.

[Toad]

This offense vs defense debate is kinda the chicken OR egg…
I think Veach will look more at it like the chicken AND egg with OT and DE being the absolute priorities.

[Chris Meck]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

What do our WRs look like when kelce isn’t drawing doubles and triples? Or when he isn’t there to be an automatic catch. If we lose kelce I think we figure out our WR room limitations very very fast. Again, I think we’re mostly there. But every WR needs to bump down one spot. Hell, what did Tennessee do? They limited kelce. And our offense looked completely stuck. Because our WRs right now feel like system guys.

an almost entirely new WR corps, man. In a notoriously complex offense requiring post snap reads and route adjustments from the WR's in real time, on the fly.

I don't think they're 'system guys' so much as they have differing skillsets. You have a couple with incredible long speed in Hardman, MVS.. You have one that's very physical in Juju. You have a couple with elite quickness, with Hardman again, Moore, and Toney. There is some youth there with Moore and Toney, so there's some projection but we're not drafting top 5-we won't get the Jamarr Chase's.

Our problems offensively stem from 1)poor OT play, 2)Mahomes still sometimes will not take the easy outlet pass and 3)a lot of new parts.

Despite all of that, this is a top NFL offense. And Kelce won't just fall off the cliff, barring catastrophic injury. He may slow down, but he's got a long way to go before he's JAG.