National media on Chris Jones deal and the Chiefs, who had $177 in cap space in March
Look at what the Chiefs have done in 107 days.
On March 30, the Chiefs had an alarming $177* of space under the salary cap, per ESPN’s Field Yates.
*Yep, triple digits
But since then, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has been busy getting player’s autographs on new contracts.
The Chiefs seemed to be boxed into a financial corner, but they instead have locked up the nucleus of their team.
Here’s what Yates tweeted Tuesday after the Chiefs and defensive tackle Chris Jones agreed on a four-year, $185 million deal.
Yates wasn’t the only one sharing their thoughts about the Chiefs. Here is what other national media members had to say.
Kevin Patra of NFL.com wrote a story about Jones signing with the Chiefs.
This is an excerpt: “Keeping Jones around long-term is a massive boon for K.C.’s defense. The past two seasons, Jones has impacted the passer as much as any interior defender not named Aaron Donald. He’s compiled 16.5 sacks the past two seasons. Pro Football Focus gave the 28-year-old their second-highest pass-rushing grade in the NFL since 2018. Jones had a massive Super Bowl game, crumbling the pocket and account for three passes defended. K.C. likely would not have hoisted the Lombardi without Jones’ play that night.
“In an offseason disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chiefs have continued to do big business and kept the core of their veteran squad together.”
Bryant McFadden of CBS Sports said Chiefs general manager “Brett Veach is the exec of the year so far and the season hasn’t even started yet.”
USA Today’s Steven Ruiz wrote a story with the headline, “The Chiefs have room for error, so they can make a huge signing like Chris Jones.”
Here is part of what he wrote: “The only way this deal really hurts the Chiefs is if Jones declines significantly, but there’s no reason to expect that to happen. He’s just entering his prime and, since 2018, he’s graded out as the NFL’s best interior defender not named Aaron Donald, per Pro Football Focus. His 18.7% pass rush win rate ranks second behind Donald since 2018. If you’re going to overpay a player, make sure it’s a good one. Kansas City did that, at the very least.”
Nick Wright tipped his cap to the front office Wednesday on Fox Sports’ “First Things First.”
“I don’t know how Brett Veach and the front office did it, but they are bringing back quite literally nearly everyone back. ... I thought Chris Jones was going to be traded before the draft because I didn’t think they were going to be able to make the money work.
“They now have their entire core of elite players locked up for at least the next two seasons.”
A graphic showed the Chiefs have Jones, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, Tyrann Mathieu, Frank Clark and Mitchell Schwartz signed through at least the 2021 season.
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network said Tuesday: “For everyone else who’s kind of waiting for the franchise deals, let’s see how many actually get done, the Chiefs actually got two big ones done in a couple weeks.”
Adam Teicher of ESPN wrote a story with the headline, “Chris Jones’ deal with Chiefs the latest move toward a dynasty.”
This is a portion of what he wrote: “They gave Jones one of those contracts because they allowed six more points per game without an injured Jones last season than when he was in the lineup. They did it because opposing quarterbacks had a 32 QBR against the Chiefs when Jones was in the game and a 59 QBR when he wasn’t.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2020 at 11:34 AM.
