With the Kansas City Chiefs opening night loss, the Chris Jones saga took a wild turn. The All-Pro Defender was in attendance in a suite with his agents, the infamous Katz Brothers, but did not talk to the Chiefs about a new contract. On Monday afternoon, both the agents and the Chiefs announced a one-year deal that replaces the final year of his four-year contract with the Chiefs. So what does all this mean?
Opening night was not good for the Kansas City Chiefs. Heading into week two, a road contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Chris Jones has returned to the team on a one-year deal, after finally ending his contract battle with the team.
The deal has several layers of incentives, that push his contract value to a number that all parties were satisfied. No Jones has to earn those incentives, but I’d have to believe the incentives overall are fairly easy to attain. Further, they probably will cover the fines he incurred for his holdout.
Last Wednesday Jones was in Kansas City to appear at the Ronald McDonald House charity event where he also spoke to the media. Jones made it clear he wanted to be a ‘Chief for life’ and all signs pointed toward the two sides ultimately coming together and resolving the contract impasse that lasted the entire offseason. When that did not happen before opening night the fan base felt less optimistic something would get done.
For the Chiefs, they simply needed to make the numbers fit in 2023. It appears they’ve adjusted their workaround and settled for a restructured one-year deal, which hopefully (though not made public), pushes a few dollars around giving Kansas City some cap space to add another veteran defender, such as Carlos Dunlap.
In the end, we have no idea of the residual effect of the re-worked deal on the team or the organization, nor what this means for Jones in 2024 when he’ll be an unrestricted free agent. Assuming this new deal does NOT have a clause stating Jones can’t be tagged by the Chiefs next March, this saga is far from over.
For now, Kansas City can get back to the task at hand, winning back-to-back Super Bowls. That quest derailed by the Detroit loss, can get back on track with a strong showing in Jacksonville.
Stay tuned to ChiefsBlitz.com for more details on the contract extension with Chris Jones.
One Response
I am very glad we got Mr. Jones signed. He is a great athlete and is much appreciated by his fan base and our kingdom! I don’t ever want to see him lined up against the Chiefs. So excited to see him back in the game and home with us!