Despite Travis Kelce making a public plea for Chris Jones to return to the Chiefs, the star defensive tackle continues his holdout. Jones has reportedly been pushing for a contract that would approach or exceed Aaron Donald‘s $31.67MM average annual value. The Chiefs have reportedly countered with a contract that would pay him in the $22.5-$24MM range, similar to the contracts signed by Daron Payne, Jeffery Simmons, Dexter Lawrence and Quinnen Williams this offseason.
[RELATED: Chiefs DT Chris Jones Hints At Extended Holdout]
Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com has more insight into, and it sounds like Kansas City’s offer is a bit higher than those second-tier DT salaries. A source tells Florio that the organization is offering Jones a three-year, $74MM deal that would wipe out the $19.5MM the player is set to earn in 2023. $70MM of that money would be guaranteed for injury.
That would come in around a $24.67MM AAV. Florio writes that Jones would be willing to split the difference between the offer and Donald’s contract at around $28MM per year. So, that means there’s around a $10MM total difference in value between the two offers (a hypothetical three-year, $74MM offer from the Chiefs vs. a three-year, $84MM request from Jones).
There’s no true deadline for the two sides to agree to an extension, but the defensive tackle has hinted that he could sit out until Week 8 if he doesn’t receive a new deal. In that scenario, Jones would be facing significant fines.
It sounds like the Chiefs are preparing to be without Jones, who finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting after compiling 15.5 sacks in 2022. Still, that hasn’t stopped teammates from pushing for his return. Kelce admitted during his recent podcast that he doesn’t understand the player’s hold out while pleading for the pass-rusher’s return.
“Chris, can you please come back?” Kelce said (via ESPN’s Adam Teicher). “You’re really scaring me, man. I don’t get it. You must know something that I don’t know because I just don’t get it. I really want to get another Super Bowl ring with you, brother. This is me bargaining you to just come back and play football for the Chiefs. Please, we need you. We need you bad, and I don’t know what the situation is.”
Meanwhile, head coach Andy Reid finally addressed Jones’ absence, telling reporters that he won’t criticize the player’s decision to hold out.
“Chris has chosen to go this route,” Reid said on Friday (via Teicher). “Some other guys have chosen to get their deals done and come in and play. I’m not here to criticize one way or the other. We’ve had a lot of success with the guys that we have, and we go with it.
“Other than that, I take the distractions and throw them out the door and let’s get on with what’s real.”
The Chiefs open the season on Thursday against the Lions. Unless the two sides can make up significant ground in negotiations, the Chiefs will be without their defensive leader for the start of their Super Bowl defense.
Has a HoF resume already. Go make as much as you can, Chris.
“As much as he can” may end up being his current contract. Neither side appears willing to budge.
To me, it’s not Chris’ job to run the cap and other finances. He has 2 rings and a bust in Canton coming. So let him max out his earning potential. If that means $30m a season playing for a team drafting in the top 5, that’s his choice.
HOF career? He has 65 sacks and has been in the league for 7 years. Yes, he has been important to the Chiefs success in winning two Super Bowl rings but to say that he is already a HOF is crazy. The guy is tied for 118th on the all-time sack list. He didn’t have a sack in either Super Bowl win and in the first win only had one tackle. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve to be paid but a compromise of $26-$28 million would be more than fair. Kelce is making $10 million less than market value per year at TE and Mahomes is making $45 million per year which is probably $15 million less than he could command. They care about winning rings not moving the market at their position.
Maybe he gets in or doesn’t. 2 rings is one heck of a career. Time to max out his value. That’s how he sees it. How Kelce manages his financial affairs is his choice, not Chris’.
It wasn’t the defense that won the Super Bowls, it was the the offense plain and simple. I want to see him end up in the HOF but get the deal signed and start the season with his teammates. Kelce and Mahomes could easily hold out as well to rework their deals and then Jones would definitely not be getting anywhere close to his 30 million per year. Be a team player and take the hometown discount and grab another 2 or 3 rings over the next 5 years
I don’t think 28MM is an unreasonable ask. If lesser guys are getting 24MM and the top is 31MM, seems like a good compromise.
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Dude, when did the game become all about money ?
You have more now than I will ever have, how about loyalty !
Oh wait, that doesn’t exist in this world today, I need to be respected and paid.
I’d loose 12 championships before I’d pay your sorry ass
Awfully ironic to start off by complaining about loyalty and then end by saying you’d intentionally *lose 12 years just to spite one person.
I think the loyalty he’s talking about is related to honor the contract you signed
Exactly.
Make them pay Chri you’ve earned it.
Let him walk it’s not worth crippling the franchise with the salary cap. Late 20’s early 30’s with 20-25 mill a year??? Lol. I need a good laugh for today.
I’d let him sit the first 8 then tag him for next year. That drops his tag number to like 12 million or just a bit over. Essentially killing two years of his greedy ass career.
Travis Kelce should take a pay cut so that Jones can get paid if he wants him back so badly.
Mahomes and Kelce both take less so there is enough to go around, Jones seems to be on the other end of the spectrum where he wants the most possible. Kelce should be making at least $25 million a year (he is the #1 TE and the #6 receiver in the league) but he is happy with less money mo’championships.
Kelce takes less money for a reason, if he is saying pay Jones then I think it is completely acceptable to pay him the $28 million a year. Both Kelce and Mahomes should have a little say in how the team spends the CAP, considering they intentionally take less for the sake of the team.
Not everyone can take a discount to contend for championships, because not everyone has the same sponsorship deals to make up the difference.
I envision Draft Kings or FanDuel working on a promotion that goes something like this:
Didn’t get that sponsorship deal you thought would make up the difference? No problem! Come place a few NFL bets with us.
He could easily get sponsorship deals as one of the best DT in the league if not the best. Donald has all kinds of deals and so did asap. He just needs a better agent if he can get deals outside the lines.
It’s not that he’s not getting any sponsorship money, but he’s not getting Mahomes sponsorship money. Mahomes is now 7th on the QB list for avg/year behind the recent signers including Kyler Murray, 12th for guaranteed money.
Right now the Chiefs are in the heart of the money (as a % of Cap) on Mahomes deal, which does make extending others more challenging for the Chiefs.The Chiefs are not in the best cap position now either absent some additional extensions/renegotiations from others, possibly Mahomes.