We continue a position-by-position look at how the Kansas City Chiefs are utilizing their salary cap space with the running backs. ESPN Stats and Information showed the Chiefs to have about $2.9 million in available cap space, which is 30th among the NFL’s 32 teams.
Salary cap commitments: $12,545,784. Jamaal Charles $7,970,835, Anthony Sherman $1.5 million, Knile Davis $736,504, Cyrus Gray $695,418, De’Anthony Thomas $623,027, Spencer Ware $510,000, Charcandrick West $510,000.
Note: Only the 51 highest figures currently count against the Chiefs’ salary cap, according to NFL rules, so all of these salaries may not figure into the team’s current cap number.
Percent of Chiefs’ total salary cap: 9.77.
NFL average salary cap spending on RBs: $7,164,512.
Chiefs’ rank in QB spending: Fifth among 32 teams.
Analysis: Charles has the sixth-highest salary cap number for a running back, behind Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, Arian Foster, Marshawn Lynch and Jonathan Stewart. Sherman is next up for the Chiefs, and he’s 40th, so Charles chews up a sizable portion of what the Chiefs spend on running backs. His cap number alone is more than what the average NFL team spends on running backs. De’Anthony Thomas is listed here as a running back because he has to be accounted for somewhere. However, he was more of a receiver than back as a rookie.