The Kansas City Chiefs might be busy preparing for the Super Bowl this weekend but there are clearly people in the front office who are also looking at what the team needs to do when this season is finally over. NFL.com reporter Ian Rapoport says his sources have told him, job one for the offseason is freeing up cap space and Sammy Watkins could end up being a victim of those efforts.
The team has benefitted from the receiver adding his speed to the offense, especially in 2018 when it lost a couple of players to suspension. Now it appears the Chiefs are going to cut the player because they need to make some room in the salary cap.
That room is supposedly in order to make sure they can lock up quarterback Patrick Mahomes for the long term.
Sammy Watkins is set to cost KC as much as $13 million next year when it comes to the cap. That's the kind of money a team looking to lock down a star quarterback could use.
That's at least what Rapoport claims the Kansas City Chiefs front office is thinking.
Watkins wants to stay on the Kansas City Chiefs
For his part, the wide receiver has told multiple members of the media this week he wants to be a member of the AFC Champion for years to come. Watkins has often talked about everything that had to go just right in order to get him on the roster in the first place.
After two seasons of amassing a total of 92 catches in the regular season, the player believes he's made his case to stick around.
As Rapoport lays out, the team doesn't necessarily disagree with those statements.
There are no accounts the team is unhappy with the play of Sammy Watkins. The reporter has said no one in the front office is happy they might have to let him go. At the same time, it appears there are some, in the franchise, who believe it will be the easiest way to go about getting the money they need to sign other players or make sure they are keeping their star players.
Watkins is far from the only member of this Super Bowl team that will likely be left by the wayside when the 2019 season officially comes to an end on Monday.
McCoy likely a healthy scratch for Kansas City Chiefs
When Andy Reid managed to finagle a reunion with one of his favorite players from his Philadelphia Eagles days, there were people who thought the Chiefs offense was about to reach another level.
At the beginning of the season, the pairing appeared to be what everyone had hoped it would be. That included 10 carries for 81 yards in the team's season opener. As the year went along, it became apparent, Reid was leaning less and less on McCoy. Now there are reports he might not play at all in the Super Bowl.
The news their once starting running back won't play in the biggest game of the season has both surprised, and not surprised at all, those around the franchise. As the Super Bowl nears, even more, the Kansas City Chiefs are prepping to attempt to win their first NFL championship since Super Bowl III.