Chiefs WR Sammy Watkins could be a 2020 cap casualty
The Kansas City Chiefs may have to cut wide receiver Sammy Watkins to keep other pieces on their roster in 2020 and beyond.
The Kansas City Chiefs assembled a tremendous roster for the 2019 season, but after winning Super Bowl LIV, there will be some necessary sacrifices forthcoming.
One possible cap casualty? Wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
The Chiefs currently have nearly $19 million in available cap space, which would seem to indicate that they are simply a few minor moves away from being able to keep the status quo for the 2020 season.
That may be the case, yet Watkins is currently slated to have the highest cap hit of any wide receiver in football in 2020. With his $21 million signing bonus already paid out, Watkins won’t be in any position to take a pay cut on his 2020 salary, which is just under $14 million.
Because of his prorated signing bonus and the way the Chiefs structured his three-year deal, Watkins would have a dead cap hit of $7 million if the Chiefs were to move on from him, but that dead cap hit doesn’t mean they are necessarily paying him $7 million to not play for them.
Although the Chiefs would certainly love to keep Watkins, keeping him at a $21 million cap hit in 2020 is going to be borderline impossible, especially when he is the third, sometimes the fourth option in Kansas City’s offensive arsenal.
The main reason the Chiefs might consider letting Watkins go? They have a number of critical impending defensive free agents, notably defensive lineman Chris Jones.
If the Chiefs are going to retain Jones, which should be their top priority in the 2020 offseason, he may require the franchise tag. Although Jones is probably closer to a $20 million per year player, the projected franchise tag number for him is under $16 million.
Even so, that’s a fully guaranteed figure and the Chiefs would also have to address losing two of their starting cornerbacks (Bashaud Breeland, Kendall Fuller) and a number of other key players.
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It’s not impossible to think this team could keep Sammy Watkins and make moves elsewhere to be able to retain their players, sign necessary free agents, and sign their draft class, but due to his massive cap hit and the dead money being cash that has already been paid out, it makes sense that Watkins would be hitting the open market sooner rather than later.