KC Chiefs: Chris Jones has every right to sit out 2020 season
Chris Jones has given the KC Chiefs every reason to pay him what he is asking for and no reason not to do so. I can show you how in his past, present and future.
PAST
The Kansas City Chiefs drafted Jones out of Mississippi State with the 37th overall pick in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, playing behind Allen Bailey and starting after Bailey’s injury, he logged 28 tackles, two sacks of Cam Newton and Andrew Luck and four deflected passes.
He improved on these numbers in 2017, with 32 tackles, six and half sacks, one pick, seven passes defensed and four forced fumbles, but his breakout season came in 2018. Jones recorded a sack in every game from week 5 to week 16, setting an NFL record of 11 consecutive games with a sack.
In 2019, Jones was instrumental in the Chiefs reaching the Super Bowl and emerging victorious, as he would bat down several passes and a case could even have been made for him to have received Super Bowl MVP for his defensive efforts securing the game.
On top of all the numbers I have just rattled off, it is a matter of fact rather than opinion that Jones’ charismatic, fun loving, and hardworking personality has made him a leader in the locker room and one of the anchors of the rapidly improving Chiefs defense.
Jones has been exemplary not only on the field, but off the field as well, never having any kind of behavioral issues that might make a large contract a liability for the team.
His history speaks for itself, and it is a history of a player who has become a staple of this defense and this team and deserves to be paid for his contributions.
PRESENT
When I say present I mean it as it pertains to Jones’ contract. Jones was a full participant in the 2019 season, and the subject of his new contract did not come up again, as Jones played a pivotal role in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl.
Rather than grant him the contract he had earned in the last four years, but especially in the last two, the Chiefs slapped the franchise tag on Jones with the promise that contract talks would continue. Jones stoically accepted the franchise tag, assuming that he would be granted his extension by the month of July at the latest. Now, here we are, and Jones is still tagged.