This offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs' primary focus is players who originally had their contracts going to expire. As free agency and the 2024 NFL Draft rightfully take precedence over most everything else, though, extensions are also interesting to explore.
One candidate who makes a good deal of sense is safety Justin Reid.
Reid is set to play his third season with Kansas City in 2024-25. It's currently slated to be the final year of his current contract. In the spring of 2022, the former Stanford standout signed a three-year pact worth $31.5 million. He's due a base salary of just under $10M for next season, carrying an overall cap hit of $14.25M in the process.
As Reid is right in the thick of his prime, renewing his contract would be an intriguing proposition for the Chiefs. It's an idea that's been tossed out there on social media and different platforms in recent weeks. Reid himself is open to it, which he told a fan on X on Wednesday. With that said, the interaction extinguished hopes for an extension already being in the works.
"I would love to have that conversation," Reid wrote. "Those talks will happen whenever they happen though."
The Chiefs can save $10.75M in salary cap space by cutting Reid prior to June 1, although such a move would incur $3.5M in dead money. Based on his recent performance (career-high marks in tackles, quarterback hits sacks in 2023), age and importance to the defense, doing that likely wouldn't be a very wise move. Since coming over from the Houston Texans and essentially replacing Tyrann Mathieu, Reid has grown into one of the most beloved players in the organization. Despite some slow starts to his first two seasons in town, he's managed to show up in a big way down the stretch.
Aside from the aforementioned reasons, a Reid extension would also have some possible financial benefits. According to OverTheCap, the Chiefs have just $3.46M in available salary cap space as of the publishing of this article. By extending Reid, who carries the sixth-largest cap hit on the list, they could lower his 2024 charge a bit and gain some additional flexibility under the offseason cap sheet. Reid is currently the No. 12 safety in terms of average annual value, so even a small raise on an extension could see him net top-10 money as a non-elite player. It's a win-win scenario.
Seth Keysor of The Chief in the North wrote about why he'd extend Reid early this offseason if he were in Brett Veach's shoes and provided some numbers for what a deal could look like:
The Chiefs could add 3 years to his current deal via extension (so a 4-year deal total) with $48 million total with a $12 million signing bonus and base salaries of 2, 7, 13, and 14 million dollars and save themselves about $5 million on the cap in 2024 while still keeping his cap hit to about $10 million in 2025. The numbers would rise in 2026 and 2027, but you could be beyond guaranteed money by then. He gets more guaranteed money and a hefty check, the Chiefs grab some flexibility and keep a valuable contributor throughout his prime.
While there doesn't appear to be any traction on a new Reid deal right now, that doesn't mean it isn't or won't be in the cards. Simply put, Kansas City has some pretty big fish to fry elsewhere. Once the contract situations of cornerback L'Jarius Sneed and defensive tackle Chris Jones get sorted out, perhaps the team could visit something with its top safety.
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