Chris Jones’ contract stand-off with the Kansas City Chiefs extended into September last season, costing him the first game of the regular season before he agreed to a one-year deal.
Chiefs and Jones are on the clock again this offseason, and the veteran star posted a cryptic emoji on social media Saturday as free agency grows closer:
Granted, these emojis and cryptic social media posts could be read any number of ways:
Jones’ value to the Chiefs in the 2023 campaign and eventual run to a third Super Bowl title in the past five years was indisputable. The veteran defensive lineman posted 10 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, 29 quarterback hits and four passes defensed, a year that earned him his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl nod and second consecutive first-team All-Pro selection.
And while the counting stats don’t necessarily reflect it, he was a menace in the postseason, with 0.5 sacks, eight tackles, six quarterback hits, two passes defensed and a forced fumble.
Sam Monson of PFF ranked him as the 21st-best player in the NFL this past season, noting that he “notched 91 quarterback pressures, more than any other interior defender” between the regular season and playoffs.
He added that he’s “one of the most destructive pass rushers in the game” and has a “genuine knack for making the biggest plays on the biggest occasions, dialing up his best moves or his edge alignments for critical third downs or game-defining situations.”
The only question now is how much the 29-year-old will fetch on a new deal, either with the Chiefs or as a free agent. He certainly won’t come cheap, and massaging the cap is always a difficult exercise for teams with superstar quarterbacks on second deals like the Chiefs.
But the Chiefs rode their excellent defense for long stretches of the regular season and playoffs, and losing Jones would significantly hamper their three-peat aspirations.
“We’d love to have him back,” head coach Andy Reid said on Thursday’s The Rich Eisen Show (h/t Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk). “[General Manager] Brett Veach and his gang are working through that. Chris Shea works with our cap and does the contracts. So, they’re all working through this thing. They’ve had great communication. So, we’ll just see where it goes from here.”
2024-03-09 19:53:45
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