The Hopkins Problem

The latest newsletter from KCSN Sports Data Scientist, Joseph Hefner.

There has been a considerable amount of digital ink spilled on Twitter this week regarding DeAndre Hopkins, and where he’s going to be playing this year. Lots of different things are being thrown around: Chiefs or Bills, wants a ring, wants a multi-year contract, wants big money, willing to give a discount, etc., etc., ad nauseum. We have no idea. He probably wants money, though.

The Chiefs can get some cap space to sign him if they want. Manipulating the cap isn’t particularly difficult. Per OverTheCap, the Chiefs can get up to 49m in cap space with simple restructures, and up to 81m with maximum restructures. Doing any or all of those restructures has consequences down the road, but strictly speaking, the cap space isn’t an issue. We could get him if we decided to do it.

A lot of Twitter ink has also been spilled this week about the difference between cap space and cash. A one-year deal requires the cash for that deal to be paid out, and any guarantees have to go into escrow until they’re paid. That means Clark Hunt has to have the cash on hand when and if Hopkins signed a contract. There’s some funny stuff they can do to mitigate it, but a certain amount of cash on hand is required.