Scott Pioli Keeps the Kansas City Chiefs Ahead of the Financial Curve

There's something very profound about building an NFL roster.

So much time and money; so many interviews, workouts and film sessions.

And all with one goal in mind—the Lombardi Trophy.

Here in Kansas City, general manager Scott Pioli seems well on his way to fielding one of the most talented teams in football.

Talent alone, however, doesn't win championships.

Fortunately for Chiefs fans, Pioli—along with owner/chairman Clark Hunt, team president Mark Donovan and the rest of their front office colleagues—have shown time and time again that they're simply ahead of the curve.

Recently, the Cowboys and Redskins were punished by the NFL—to the tune of $36 million in Washington and $10 million in Dallas—for abusing the 2010 uncapped season in order to dump significant salary numbers they couldn't normally afford.

Oddly enough, the Chiefs used a similar formula when re-signing their veteran players over the past few seasons—only they didn't need an uncapped season in order to afford it.

Much like Jamaal Charles' speed, Tamba Hali's motor and Derrick Johnson's athleticism, Scott Pioli's use of the salary cap—and more importantly, his proficient accounting therein—is a very dangerous weapon for the Chiefs to have at their disposal.

Take for example the contract signed by star running back Jamaal Charles in December of 2010's uncapped season: a five-year, $32.5 million extension that paled in comparison to the top rushers in the NFL.

Not only was Scott Pioli able to get Charles to sign what was widely considered a "team friendly contract," he found a clever way to use cash spending to manipulate cap space in the form of a roster bonus.

Without getting too technical, the Chiefs paid Charles close to $13 million in 2010, thereby drastically reducing his cap number over the final four seasons of the contract. They used this same tactic with Derrick Johnson's new deal, signed only about a month prior to Charles'.

The most simple explanation of cash spending versus cap spending can be found in the way the aforementioned deals were structured: the Chiefs had such a large amount of cap space to use that they could afford to give Charles and Johnson close to $30 million in combined salary for one season.

As soon as the league year came to a close, that money was off the books.

Utilizing things like roster bonuses when re-signing players (as opposed to the traditional signing bonuses) is just one way teams can account for large portions of cash spending without having to deal with the long-term ramifications of cap spending.

Given Pioli's ability to maintain a high level of cap room by using cash payouts, Chiefs fans will never have to endure the kind of salary purge currently going on in Oakland.

On the flip-side, they're also not likely to see earth shattering contracts like the one Peyton Manning just signed with Denver.

An unfortunate (and inaccurate) characterization has emerged from fans and local media that this regime is cheap, given their propensity to shy away from bigger-name free agents.

Somehow forgotten are the astonishingly shrewd contracts Pioli has managed to get players to sign with the Chiefs.

The most recent example of which was with free agent Eric Winston—arguably the best right tackle in football, mind you—who agreed to a four-year, $22 million deal that was well below market value for such a high caliber player.

While it may be difficult to grasp all the ins-and-outs of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, one thing should be simple enough to understand: As long as Scott Pioli is the general manager in Kansas City, the business side of things will never impede the football side.

And that, my friends, might just be more valuable than any player in the NFL today.