Chiefs Move Mahomes Money, Creatively Convert Cap Space

The Chiefs have returned to The Bank Of Patrick Mahomes, but they're not maxing out their credit cards.

The Kansas City Chiefs created salary cap space by adjusting quarterback Patrick Mahomes's contract on Wednesday, moving money around in the two-time MVP's contract for some immediate financial flexibility.

Reported by Field Yates of ESPN, the Chiefs converted $12 million of Mahomes's 2023 roster bonus into a signing bonus in order to create $9.6 million in salary cap space this season. This is an annual option for Kansas City due to the structure of Mahomes's decade-long contract extension, signed in July 2020.

The Chiefs have converted $12M of QB Patrick Mahomes’ 2023 roster bonus into a signing bonus, creating $9.6M in cap space, per source.

More flexibility for the champs throughout free agency. pic.twitter.com/lQZlD87acp

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 16, 2023

As noted by Arrowhead Report's Zack Eisen, the Chiefs didn't move the maximum amount of money in the deal, which seems to indicate that the Chiefs' goal was to create nearly $10 million in cap space as opposed to simply creating the most 2023 cap space possible.

As AR's Conner Christopherson surmised, the Chiefs should now have roughly $10 million in cap space after their pending contracts are signed, giving them flexibility in the weeks to come, either for a big splash or for a variety of smaller moves.

Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest tweeted that the $12 million in moved money is roughly a third of Mahomes's $34.4 million roster bonus, which spreads out $2.4 million in dead money over the next five years — a relatively insignificant amount of cap space over the half-decade span for an actionable chunk of change this year.

Chiefs still have two cap creation methods available to them after Patrick Mahomes' restructure:

Travis Kelce restructure and Chris Jones extension.

If, in the next few days, either of those happens then something is about to happen. If not...well we will see.

— Conner Christopherson (@Conner_DKC) March 16, 2023

The Chiefs chose to convert none of Mahomes's roster bonus last offseason, allowing them to take the full brunt of his 2022 cap hit without spreading money out down the line. Now, KC has found a middle ground, allowing themselves to borrow a bit from The Bank of Patrick Mahomes without going all-in and suffering heavier hits down the road.

From the archives: Patrick Mahomes's Contract is a Blessing for the Chiefs, Curse for the Rest of the NFL (2021)