The NFL and NFLPA have come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) ahead of the start of the 2020 NFL season.
We’ve heard about the contentious negotiations between both sides and things have been rather stagnant while the debate over a new CBA has been ongoing. Now that there is an agreement, fans should be some action ahead of the new league year.
What does the new CBA mean for the Kansas City Chiefs? You can find a summary of changes to the CBA here. Here are six things that Chiefs fans should know about the new CBA:
New playoff system hurt and helps Kansas City
The new CBA includes an expanded playoff field and some new changes that hurt and help Kansas City.
Beginning in 2020 there will be an increase to seven teams from each conference that make the playoffs. The new format would add an extra game for each conference during the wild-card weekend, with the No. 7 seeded team playing the No. 2 seed. This means that only the No. 1 seed will receive a first-round bye week, placing an increased emphasis on landing the No. 1 seed in your respective conference. The Chiefs would have played on wild-card weekend in 2019 under the new playoff rules.
In the last decade, this type of playoff expansion wouldn’t have earned the Chiefs any extra playoff appearances. Now that Kansas City has finally become a perennial playoff winner, things are becoming more difficult in terms of securing a bye week and an easier path to the Super Bowl. At the same time, it’s hard to imagine this team missing the playoffs often with this new system.
Salary cap increase won’t help Chiefs in 2020
We now know the exact salary cap total for NFL teams in 2020. The salary cap was projected at $200 million for the 2020 season but falls slightly short of that number at $198.2 million. That leaves the Chiefs with a projected $18.4 million in cap space.
That’s the space projected before Kansas City elects to use the franchise tag on Chris Jones. The Chiefs haven’t officially done that yet, but they’re expected to place the franchise tag on Jones. Projections for the franchise tag for a defensive tackle currently range from $15.5 to $16.2 million. Kansas City could be very tight against the cap soon if they don’t make moves to create cap space.
This doesn’t help the Chiefs when it comes to signing players like Jones or QB Patrick Mahomes to long-term contract extensions. However, the forecasted increases in the 2021 season and beyond could help Kansas City. With new television deals on the horizon, a 1% increase to 48% revenue share for players in 2021 and a 17-game season, the annual increase in salary cap ($10-12 million) could jump as much as 100% as early as the 2021 season.
The bottom half of the roster will make more
Minimum salaries for both rookies and veterans are increasing under the new CBA. The rookie minimum salary in 2019 was $610,000. That will increase to $710,000 in 2020. In 2021, it will be $760,000 and in each consecutive year, it will increase by $45,000. The veteran minimum salary is also set to increase by increments of $90,000 in 2020, $80,000 or more in 2021 and $45,000 in each consecutive year after that.
The Chiefs have been quite good at acquiring cheap talent. Just this past season you had several big contributors, like Charvarius Ward, playing minimum deals. Any extra money earned had to be through performance-based pay incentives. Now that those minimum numbers will go up it will place increased importance on landing contributors on those types of contracts.
Roster expansion is coming in multiple ways
I’ve already detailed the roster expansion in the CBA, but here is a summary of that information:
- The gameday active list increased from 46 players to 48 players.
- 53-man regular-season roster limit is set to increase to a 55-man roster limit.
- Practice squads increase from 10 players to 12 in 2020 and 2021. They’ll increase to 14 players starting in 2022.
- Additionally, teams will be able to elevate a maximum of two players per week. Previously they could only elevate one player. They also are allowed to send players back to the practice squad twice without risking players on waivers.
All of these changes are intended to give teams more roster flexibility. The Chiefs have historically done a really good job managing their roster and developing talent on the practice squad. Additional roster space and flexibility will only help their ability to continue doing that.
The extra regular-season game won’t start until 2021
Starting in 2021, the NFL will have 17-game regular seasons and one less preseason game. The NFL hasn’t been clear on how home and away games will be decided for the 17th game yet.
As for payment for players in game 17, here is what the NFLPA fact sheet on the new CBA says:
“Bonus payment of 1/17 of his paragraph 5 salary up to $250K to any player whose contract runs through a season when 17 games are played”
Once the 17-game regular-season begins, teams will be limited to 16 padded practices during training camp and won’t be able to have more than three padded practices in a row. Teams could have 28 padded practices during training camp during the old CBA. Practices can only run for 2.5 hours and players will also be limited to 12 hours per day in a team facility. They also won’t be able to add any of those padded practices back during the regular season.
What does this all mean? It’ll be more difficult for coaches to get players prepared for the start of the regular season. Those coaches, in particular, won’t be happy about these changes because they didn’t get a say in them.
The new CBA lasts for 11 years
This agreement comes a year early before the new agreement expires, which means it’ll last slightly longer. The new CBA is set to start in 2020 and run through the 2030 NFL season. We won’t have to go through this again for another decade.
It also means that the majority of Chiefs star QB Patrick Mahomes’ career will be played under this new CBA. It appears the changes will help keep Mahomes in Kansas City and keep a good team surrounding him. We’ll just have to monitor as we progress through each year under the new CBA.
