Kansas City Chiefs’ updated salary cap space projection upon releasing or trading RT Jawaan Taylor ahead of NFL free agency

A look at the Kansas City Chiefs’ salary cap situation after the latest decision on RT Jawaan Taylor.

Charles Goldman — NFL Managing Editor
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The Kansas City Chiefs should soon be out of the red and into the green when it comes to their salary cap situation.

According to the folks at OverTheCap, the Chiefs were still $5.6 million over the salary cap after the league announced a $301.2 million salary cap for the 2026 NFL season. They needed to get into salary cap compliance before the start of the new league year/free agency on March 11. The decision to release or trade Jawaan Taylor will get them there.

Here’s what you need to know about where the K.C. currently stands with the salary cap.

How much salary cap space will the Chiefs have when they trade or release Jawaan Taylor?

Should the Chiefs release Jawaan Taylor outright, they’d save $20 million in salary cap space with $7.3 million in dead money. That one decision would put the team at $14,335,834 in effective salary cap space for the new league year and the upcoming free agency period. As things currently stand, the rookie salary cap pool will cost the Chiefs approximately $7.4 million in cap space. That means they’ve got around $7 million available for extensions and free agency.

What would the difference be in the case of a trade sending Taylor to another club? Well, it could be exactly the same or vastly different. The Chiefs could effectively “buy” themselves a draft pick in trade by agreeing to pay a portion of Taylor’s cap hit with his new team. It’s something a team looking to reload, retool, and rebuild might want to consider, and why a trade in this scenario shouldn’t be ruled out.

The Chiefs have other moves to clear more salary cap space if they want to be big spenders in free agency

Another part of a potential trade for Taylor, and also of the Chiefs’ free agency plans, is that they still have a path to create significant salary cap space in 2026. Brett Veach emphasized during his chat with media members at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine that they’ve got upwards of $60 million in convertible contracts by moving salary to prorated signing bonus.

The kicker with those moves is that they make players harder to move on from down the line, so typically, you only want to do it with the guys who you know are in it for the long haul. There might be some hesitancy to pursue contract conversions with players like Chris Jones, Harrison Butker, and Nick Bolton, even though those three moves could create $32 million in space. Guys like Creed Humphrey, George Karlaftis, and Trey Smith could create $28 million in space.

Keep in mind that the Chiefs can convert a portion of a player’s salary into a signing bonus, not just the full amount. This leaves some future flexibility and truly makes it a matter of anywhere between $0 and $60 million that Kansas City can create.

Another piece of the puzzle is Trent McDuffie. The Chiefs held extension talks with his agents at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. He’s due $13.6 million fully guaranteed this season as part of his fifth-year option. A trade could wipe out that full salary cap amount. An extension could lower that number in 2026.

There are also more cuts the Chiefs could entertain, such as LB Drue Tranquill, TE Noah Gray, CB Kristian Fulton, S Chamarri Conner, and RT Jaylon Moore. I wager Moore will stick around after the decision on Taylor.

All-in-all, I estimate that the Chiefs could still create a max of $92.1 million in salary cap space. Add that to the $14.3 million the team would have after cutting Jawaan Taylor, and they would have $106.4 million in salary cap space to spend. Realistically, they won’t ever need that much, but that shows you just how malleable and flexible the salary cap can truly be in the NFL.

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