The Kansas City Chiefs are looking for ways to improve the team to avoid another lost season after missing the playoffs in 2025. In order to get the start on that, they are needing to clear up some cap space. After restructuring quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ contract last week, the team still is a few million over the 2026 salary cap.
Let’s take a look at what they decided to do in order to clear some additional money off their salary cap heading into the NFL Free Agency period.
The Kansas City Chiefs released Michael Danna
Aug 9, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Detailed view of a Kansas City Chiefs helmet during a preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Aug 9, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Detailed view of a Kansas City Chiefs helmet during a preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
The team announced that it has released two-time Super Bowl Champion defensive end Michael Danna on Monday. They also would post a message thanking him for his years with the team. As a result of this decision, the Chiefs will save more than $8.9 million in salary cap space, while also having over $2.16 million in dead cap this upcoming season.
Kansas City have George Karlaftis and Ashton Gillotte under contract, while Charles Omenihu is also an unrestricted free agent heading into the offseason. According to Over the Cap, the team was $3.295 million over the salary cap for the 2026 season, meaning there will need to be additional moves in order to be under the $303.5 million base salary cap to sign free agents as well as their 2026 draft class.
Danna was drafted in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft for the Chiefs, and appeared in 87 regular season as well as 16 postseason games. He accumulated 221 total tackles, 23.5 sacks, one interception, and seven forced fumbles. It will be intriguing to see which teams are interested in the newest free agent as we get closer to the legal tampering period.