Chris Jones ‘deserves a big contract,’ Chiefs’ Brett Veach says. Where do things stand?
Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach says the team has not changed its stance in wanting to lock up defensive lineman Chris Jones long-term, even as he holds out from training camp.
Jones, 29, is entering the final year of his deal.
“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,” Veach told The Star on Monday. “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,’ because that’s how much we think of him.”
The Chiefs faced a similar decision on a star player last year — whether to lock receiver Tyreek Hill up long-term. Veach explained that part of the decision to trade Hill to the Miami Dolphins for draft picks was based on a look to the future; it potentially put their salary cap in a better position.
“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 Tyreek, 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.”
Veach emphasized Monday that he didn’t foresee trading Jones as an option ahead of this season.
“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. “Hopefully, we get this resolved, but we have no intentions of making a trade.”
Veach described the recent discussions between the Chiefs and Jones’ agents. He said it was more of a holding pattern in the spring, as both sides waited for additional information with talks more hypothetical in nature.
Once the two sides were close to training camp, Veach described the dialogue as “extensive” with daily contact.
Now, Veach said, the communication is at a different stage.
“You reach this point where you, I think, both parties want to just kind of take a deep breath and reset a little bit. And then (the talks) become less frequent, but at the same time, I mean, the start of the season is Sept. 7,” Veach said. “So by nature, they’re gonna have to heat up again. And like I said, that’s why we’re still optimistic.”
Veach was asked Monday what the Chiefs’ 2023 roster potentially would look like without Jones.
“It wouldn’t be as good as one with (him), and I think we certainly acknowledge that. I mean, he’s the guy that makes everything tick,” Veach said. “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.”
Where the two sides might still land in negotiations remains an open question even after the New York Jets’ Quinnen Williams agreed to his recent extension for $24 million per year, which included $66 million guaranteed.
There remains a significant pay gap between the NFL’s second-highest-paid defensive tackle Williams ($24 million per year) and the Los Angeles Rams’ Aaron Donald at No. 1 ($31.7 million) — the potential range where a Jones extension might make sense.
Veach reiterated the “ultimate goal” for the Chiefs was to have Jones on the team for years to come.
“Sometimes these things take some time,” Veach said. “So we’ll just continue to press away and work through that and hopefully make some movement here. We went into this, and as we’re having these ongoing dialogues, our intent and desire has always been to get Chris Jones secured for the foreseeable future, and we’re gonna press on with that mindset.”
The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff contributed to this story.
