Chris Jones is on the verge of a brand new contract. The Chiefs have agreed to a fresh four-year deal with their star defensive tackle, according to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Jones is scheduled to earn up to $85MM over the life of the deal, including $60MM in guarantees, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter).
Jones will receive $37MM guaranteed at signing, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets, noting that this is a four-year, $80MM deal that features another $5MM available via incentives. Among interior D-linemen, Jones now sits third in guaranteed money and fourth in fully guaranteed funds. 
This year’s franchise tag extension deadline is largely quiet due to fiscal uncertainty, but Jones proved to be an exception. Many doubted whether Jones would hit his desired $20MM+ average annual value demand, but his camp got it done. Jones’ deal ended up coming in just south of DeForest Buckner‘s recent $21MM-per-year Colts pact.
Earlier this month, Jones threatened a holdout via Twitter, referencing Le’Veon Bell‘s infamous standoff with the Steelers. In reality, a holdout would have been extremely risky for the 25-year-old. A season-long holdout could have delayed Jones’ entry into free agency and cost him roughly $1MM per game – his tender was valued at $16.1MM for the 2020 season.
Last year, Jones graded out as Pro Football Focus’ No. 7 ranked interior defensive lineman in the league and notched nine sacks. In 2018, when he saw more time on the edge, he registered 15.5 sacks. He’s one of the best IDLs in the game today, and he’s still approaching his prime seasons.
Currently, the defensive tackle market is led by Aaron Donald ($22.5MM/year). Meanwhile, Bears superstar Khalil Mack ($23MM AAV) leads all defensive players in average annual value.
Big Mistake
Chris Jones would disagree
4 years $85 million with $60 million in guarantees. In before the article says it.
Not bad, you weren’t too far off.
To be fair, those are the numbers Adam Schefter reported. I just wanted to comment it just in case people were curious until PFR updated the article.
Funny how this ‘mid market team’ can dole out over a half billion dollars on 2 players. But let’s keep hearing how ‘poor’ Mark Davis is in his brand new gifted stadium.
I just drove by and its a very nice stadium. No parking but its nice. Cant wait for raiders chiefs and the sea of red to fill that place in November
Funny thing is, that number you quoted-half a billion-is Mark Davis’ entire reported net worth. Emphasis on “reported”.
Being that there is a salary cap, how is it funny for Chiefs than any other NFL team? It’s not like they are going above and beyond every other teams payroll.
yeah for some reason I thought that the NFL owners were worth something but I did the research and half the mlb owners could buy 80% of the nlf owners mark Davis being one of them. I’m not sure why that is but it is…
Impressive that KC managed to get this done. I certainly didn’t expect anything more than a franchise tag. That said, it’s really hard to see a way for the roster to maintain a comparable level of talent after next season. I think most of their upper end is signed to 2022 at least. Could be wrong, but it feels like that’s when the money will start to get tricky. For now, though, I don’t think it’s hard to say that KC has the most talented roster in the league.
If they can pick up another super bowl, it will have all been worth it anyways. Then they can just trade the high prices veterans away for draft capital and start building the next playoff roster for Mahomes to lead. Winning even one Super Bowl is incredibly difficult, let alone if they could get 2 or 3 out of the current team, it would be considered a mini dynasty. It’s hard to even quantify how much additional revenue is generated from super wins anyways, but it’s a ton. You don’t know until years down the line the impact it may have had in generating new fans and revenue streams. Super Bowls go far beyond extra ticket, tv and merchandise revenue.
Agreed with that. If KC gets two or even one more Super Bowl win from this, it would be worth it I think. Most teams end up going through cap he’ll at some point anyway, the least you can do is have a Lombardi to show for it.
According to Mr Cowherd the Chargers have the best roster in afc west.
Someone needs to tell Kansas City the NFL has this little thing called a salary cap.
so $37 mill next year while mahomes is earning what, $6mill? then jones gets $16 mill per year after. definitely doable