The Kansas City Chiefs converted $54.45 million of QB Patrick Mahomes’ 2026 salary into a signing bonus to create some much needed cap room for the Chiefs. The move lowered Mahomes’ salary cap number from $78.2 to $34.65 million for 2026, opening up $43.56 million in cap room for the Chiefs. This will be the fourth straight year that the Chiefs have restructured Mahomes’ contract to improve their salary cap situation.
Mahomes salary cap number in each of the next four seasons will now rise by $10.89 million per year. His cap number for 2027 will now be over $85 million. While Mahomes is under contract to the Chiefs through 2031 it is likely that the team will look at extending him or making a major modification to his contract by 2028. In prior renegotiations the Chiefs moved money up from 2028 and 2029 to keep Mahomes salary more in line with the rest of the NFL. His salary drops significantly in 2028 so another change is likely. Mahomes had signed a shocking 10 year contract extension with the Chiefs in 2020, the type of contract which had not been seen in at least 20 years as has not been seen since.
The Chiefs still have work to do with their salary cap as we estimate them to still be over the cap by about $11 million even after this restructure. DL Chris Jones would be the next logical restructure candidate.
