Patrick Mahomes’ contract includes a now-standard trick of “void years,” or what some call “dummy years.” … which is why Chiefs fans have no need to panic about the salary cap.

FRISCO – There are those who think the Kansas City Chiefs have a Patrick problem when it comes to Mahomes’ contract … and they are going to end up being wrong.

The Chiefs are of course still bemoaning all the things that went wrong after the brutal 40-22 Super Bowl loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles.

But now they move on to the remodeling of the roster … with a hope that Chiefs’ era of dominance is not over with the loss – largely because Mahomes is still around.

But what about that salary cap problem?

On paper? KC’s present total cap liabilities come in at $274.7 million, leaving the club with a paltry $941,000 with which to work.

And that won’t work – nor will it have to.

Not even counting the Travis Kelce decision – if he opts to retire the team will save $17 million – there is the simple structure of Mahomes’ contract that will come to the rescue.

Presently there is a $66.258 million cap hit on Mahomes. And if KC leaves it that way? It’ll be hard to do much in terms of signing anybody else.

But in Mahomes’ contract is a now-standard trick of “void years,” or what some call “dummy years.” They serve as a dumping ground in the sense that present day money can be converted from base to bonus and then spread out over multiple seasons.

In KC’s specific case? The Chiefs can convert about $48 million of Mahomes’ money to bonus in a way that would drop his 2025 salary down to roughly $11.8 million … making his cap hit in 2025 a very manageable $28 million.

Oh, and weirdly, his 2025 base salary (again, on paper) will look like about $1.25 million.

And voila, KC has cap room!

This technique is criticized by some as “kicking the can” because “the piper must be paid.” And it’s true. In, say, 2033, the Chiefs will “still be paying the cap” on Mahomes … and that is likely to create inflexibility at that time.

But it’s planned inflexibility … and a small future price to pay for continued Super Bowl contention.