As the situations involving Odell Beckham Jr., Russell Wilson and others illustrated, team power brokers insisting no trade will take place can be a precursor to a trade indeed coming to fruition. As Chris Jones‘ Chiefs holdout heads toward two weeks, GM Brett Veach addressed the situation.
Jones is entering the final season of a four-year, $80MM Chiefs contract, but as the defensive tackle market shifted this offseason, the four-time Pro Bowler is now ninth in terms of AAV at his position. As Jones holds out, Veach expressed a desire for the All-Pro defensive tackle to finish his career in Kansas City.
“I think for all parties, I think the best resolution would be for him to end his career as a Chief — and get that financial security — and for us to do what we had set out to do, and that’s to work through last offseason with this offseason in mind and get some young guys, which we did that, and then focus on this year and getting Chris done,” Veach said, via the Kansas City Star’s Jesse Newell. “Hopefully we get this resolved, but we have no intentions of making a trade.”
Since Veach has been in the GM chair, the Chiefs have not shied away from big-ticket trades. In 2019, they swapped Dee Ford in a tag-and-trade deal with the 49ers. A month later, they were on the other end of a tag-and-trade transaction — the Frank Clark deal with the Seahawks. In 2021, the Chiefs put together a trade package headlined by a first-round pick for Orlando Brown Jr. Last year’s Tyreek Hill trade — for a five-asset Dolphins package — is the most pertinent to the Jones matter.
The Chiefs begun negotiations with Hill on a third contract early in the 2022 offseason. Although Veach has since cited the team’s desire to balance out their roster around Patrick Mahomes‘ current contract, the organization had another Hill extension on the radar. But Davante Adams‘ $28MM-per-year Raiders deal changed the All-Pro deep threat’s asking price. Hill said he did not need to be the NFL’s highest-paid wideout to stay in Kansas City, but the Chiefs shopped him in a quick process that ended with the likely Hall of Famer in Miami. One of the team’s reasons for trading Hill: Jones’ third contract.
“You have to keep in mind that when we did make that move with Tyreek, one of the determining factors was because there was an expected Chris Jones deal,” Veach said. “And so, to do [a] Tyreek [extension], there was a concern of, ‘Would we be able to do Chris?’ “And so that was a moment of time, and it was before the draft, that we hit the reset button. And we’re like, ‘You know, it’s really hard to trade a player the magnitude of Tyreek Hill.’ But we’re following that up with someone just as significant and on the defensive side.”
Hill soon signed a position-record contract with the Dolphins, a $30MM-per-year extension that includes an inflated final-season salary that ballooned the AAV to that place. Jones also wants a contract in the $30MM-AAV neighborhood, seeking money closer to the Aaron Donald range ($31.7MM per year) than the recently established Quinnen Williams–Jeffery Simmons–Dexter Lawrence–Daron Payne tier ($22-$24MM per year). The Chiefs want him closer to that group than Donald.
“It wouldn’t be as good as one with [him], and I think we certainly acknowledge that,” Veach said of a Chiefs 2023 roster that does not include Jones. “I mean, he’s the guy that makes everything tick. I think that’s apparent to us, and that’s why — going into the offseason and even to where we are now — that’s why our mindset is to continue to work hard to get something done with him, because that’s how we feel about him.
“… He’s a great player, and he wants a big contract. He deserves a big contract, and I don’t think there’s any surprises in that regard. But there’s just some hurdles we have to work through in regards to how we can keep this thing going for the short and long term. But we’ve never wavered on, ‘This is a guy that we want to exhaust all of our efforts to get done.’
Veach, who has been with the Chiefs throughout Andy Reid‘s tenure, has built the team’s roster around John Dorsey-era draftees Jones, Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Core performers like Hill, Clark, Brown, Justin Houston and Tyrann Mathieu have shuttled through western Missouri during the franchise’s peak period. This is not the first time Veach has spoken at length about the talks, but after the previous round of comments indicated plenty of time remained to hammer out a deal before training camp, Jones has become the rare 2020s player to stage a holdout.
Jones, 29, has accumulated more than $600K in fines during this holdout, one that accompanies Nick Bosa and Zack Martin‘s efforts. Like Bosa with the 49ers, Jones is firmly in the Chiefs’ plans. How high will the team be willing to go to end this impasse?
Cannot expect every player to take a team friendly deal. With that being said if he isn’t following the ‘team-mantra’ then he could be expendable.
I would like to see Jones stay with the team, but Aaron Donald money is out of the question. Donald was paid that amount because he told the Rams he was going to retire.
Jones should aim for $26.5 million a year for the next 3 years, and after that he can get back to the table to negotiate another deal.
Excuse me…. He’s under contract. Let him finish out his deal first
He is under contract but if he is not willing to play then that does hurt the team. If you are expecting him to show up because he ‘has to’ I would say he understands his value and does not care about the last year of his contract. He is holding firm and will not give in until he gets a bigger contract. If you think he is just blowing smoke then keep in mind:
Under Article 42, Section 1 (b) (vi) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the players’ union, the accumulation of fines for missing practices is a pretty fast game. Already on the hook for nearly $99,000 after missing the team’s three-day mandatory minicamp in mid-June, Jones began adding $50,000-per-day fines to his tab when he failed to report to training camp on July 21. He’s now missed 18 days, so those camp fines now total $900,000 — and will continue to accrue for every day through September 3.
He is losing money to get more money, it is just the business of the game. I do not think he cares about that final year, he wants a new deal and he is obviously sticking to that plan.
I have to play you in fantasy? You going to kick our butts! That much knowledge on the CBA(?!?!), what secrets do you know about drafting?
I’m not worried about him having any drafting talent (he’ll probably use his first pick on a lawyer) but I hope he doesn’t get any ideas about inviting Goodell.
Well obviously he does care about losing $100 thousand a day, which to an average worker in America would insane to do! Joke!
Chris Jones clearly doesn’t care about the $50,000 daily fine he is incurring by holding out. He has been fined over $1 million at this time, but if he can get 4-8 million more each year for the next 2-4 years it is well worth the penalties.
Of course not. He’s not going to sit out the season, and KC will be playing for another SB. Worst case, enjoy one last run with him on that defense. There’s a good chance they’d be compensated for having him walk in FA, with another championship.
As much as I love Chris Jones for what he does for the team as a player, we have all seen this before….guy sits out multiple weeks, resigns and gets hurt or likewise. I am on the side of let him play out the year, weather he is happy or not, and let him walk. He is awesome but history shows 30+ and large extensions don’t mix.
I really wish he could’ve been a rich big baby at the beginning of the offseason or at least before the draft this offseason. He’s doing it now for more leverage and I hope it doesn’t work out for him. People winning championships and making over 20 mil a year complaining about pay are bad for team chemistry
Remember Jones stated he would take a team friendly contract to stay in Kansas City. I rather sign Sneed before the season start. He’s younger with great upside. There are players out there the Chiefs could sign if he’s traded? One comes to mind Suh. The Chiefs could get another package of draft picks for him. We have two young offensive line players Are needing extensions before next season Trey Smith and C.Humphrey an all pro center for the Chiefs to think about. I would shop Jones for a package deal of draft picks.
Every year players who signed a deal whine about it. There are plenty of player who sign and play over the expectation of production. There are just as many who underperform in that regard.
Play. Your. Deal.
Before anyone gets upset about “teams can cut a player anytime”, remember the player agreed to the amount if guaranteed money in rhe event a player is cut.
“Get that financial security?”
He already has $80 million
of financial security. He just wants more…..