The Kansas City Chiefs just bought themselves a headache. The Trey Smith restructure freed up short-term cap room, but it pushed the Chiefs $12.8 million into the red for 2027, and Patrick Mahomes’ $90 million cap hit hasn’t even entered the equation yet. Something has to give.

“The Chiefs now have $13.8 million in cap space,” Farzin Vousoughian wrote on X. “However, that puts them $12.8 million over the cap for 2027. It was approximately $4 million over before the restructure. They’ll try to restructure Patrick Mahomes’ deal ($90 million cap number), but they will have to figure out what to do with the following players next offseason. Chris Jones ($38.1 million), Nick Bolton ($19.25 million), Noah Gray ($7 million).”

Kansas City has a spending problem, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

In June, the Chiefs handed Patrick Mahomes a record-breaking extension, tacking on two more years and pushing the total value of his deal to a staggering $504.75 million through 2033. That came just months after he tore his ACL and LCL in December, which makes the move feel less like a reward and more like a statement of faith. But faith doesn’t pay the bills, and right now the bills are piling up.

The most obvious fix sitting on the table is another Mahomes restructure. Spotrac projects his 2027 cap number at $90.3 million, and if the Chiefs convert a big chunk of that salary into a prorated signing bonus, they could unlock tens of millions in immediate relief, according to Athlon Sports’ Ayomide Adeduyite. This wouldn’t be new territory either. Kansas City pulled the same move in 2026 and freed up more than $43 million by doing it.

On February 18, 2026, Patrick Mahomes agreed to his fifth restructure of his Chiefs contract, converting $44.05 million of his 2026 base salary and a $10.4 million roster bonus into a fully guaranteed roster bonus, creating $43.56 million in cap room.

Of course, Mahomes isn’t the only name on the roster costing real money. The Chiefs brought Travis Kelce back in March on a one-year, $12 million deal, and then on Thursday they turned their attention to guard Trey Smith, converting $18.5 million of his salary into a bonus.

That move alone gave Kansas City $13.8 million in cap space, enough to get the team into compliance for the regular season, according to Over The Cap. Smith’s cap hit drops to just $12.1 million this year, but the trade-off shows up down the road, with his numbers jumping past $34 million in both 2027 and 2028.

It’s worth remembering Smith is already working with serious money. He signed a four-year, $94 million deal last year with $70 million guaranteed, making him the league’s highest-paid guard at the time. This latest move marks his second restructure, and he remains the highest-paid at the position.

Where does this leave the Chiefs then? Currently, they have around $13.8 million of room available, which is sufficient for handling any in-season transactions with ease. However, this will not remain so for too long. The signing of Smith puts additional stress on their future cap space, and Mahomes’ ballooning number only makes things tighter.

Add in Chris Jones at $38.1 million, Nick Bolton at $19.25 million, and Noah Gray at $7 million, and Brett Veach is staring down a puzzle with very few easy pieces left.

The Chiefs entered the offseason in cap hell and made some harsh decisions to bring themselves to the safe zone. They released Jawaan Taylor and Mike Danna, freeing up approximately $28.3 million. The Chiefs also parted ways with Wanya Morris in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons in the spring and cut defensive lineman Zacch Pickens only days ago.

From being $55 million over the cap in the offseason, the Chiefs have had to act quickly to bring the number down. How they manage for next year, however, is still a mystery.