Time for the KC Chiefs to be honest about Chris Jones contract dispute

Back in February, I wrote a piece where I argued the Chiefs needed to take immediate action on Chris Jones. It doesn’t matter if you sign him or trade him, I argued, “What the Chiefs absolutely can’t do is just push this issue off for another year.”

Brett Veach and Andy Reid clearly didn’t agree with me because they’ve done exactly that, and they’re in a weaker position now because of it. Had Kansas City decided they needed to trade Jones back in February or March, they could have done so and gotten a number of picks in the 2020 draft that would have helped them win this year while the window is wide open for another Super Bowl.

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Now if Jones is traded, KC will be doing it in 2021, and this won’t help them defend their title. And if the Chiefs are serious about re-signing Jones, then what happens?

Well in late March, the 49ers traded their own star defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to the Colts, who gave him a contract just shy of what Aaron Donald got per year. While I can’t argue Chris Jones is the better player than Aaron Donald, there is no way I can say Buckner is the better player than Jones.

Jones has been far more dominant than Buckner and has far more potential to grow as well. Back in March, it would have been completely reasonable to sign Jones for a contract that was slightly higher than Fletcher Cox who had the second highest contract at 17.1 million dollars. Now anything less than the 21 million a year that Buckner signed for is going to be seen as disrespectful.

The Chiefs probably want to get one more year out of Jones before they ship him off for a bounty of high picks to a team that will give him the extension he deserves. Jones seems to have come to this conclusion as well. He’s been getting more and more brash about his feelings regarding the negotiations for months and with only two weeks to make a deal, has come out with his strongest statement yet.

Now we have zero clue when/if he’ll report to the team this year and KC Chiefs fans are going to be forced to pick sides between their team and a player they love. This contract dispute is getting worse and if we’re all being honest, we know where it will end:

Chris Jones eventually playing for another team.