Chiefs DT Chris Jones Suggests He Won’t Play Under Franchise Tag

On Tuesday, Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that Chiefs’ franchise DT Chris Jones “has always viewed himself” as a player worth $20 million per year. However, Garafolo says the Chiefs have never felt that Jones is worth this kind of money.

According to Garafolo, Kansas City has never made Jones an offer in the neighborhood of $20 million per year and believe they can re-sign him at a lower number. 

Garafolo says there’s “a lot of work to be done” if the Chiefs and Jones are to reach an agreement before the July 15 deadline to negotiate with franchise players. 

Jones later responded by tweeting that he “won’t play” without a contract extension. 

Or I won’t play. @LeVeonBell told me about this

— Chris Jones (@StoneColdJones) July 1, 2020

The problem for Jones in the scenario is that the Chiefs can use the franchise tag on him again in 2021. Although, it would cost the Chiefs even more to use the tag in back-to-back seasons. 

Last week, James Palmer of NFL Media reported that there hasn’t been much traction at all toward an agreement on a long-term extension between the Chiefs and Jones.

The Chiefs have made it clear that they want to retain him long-term, but there are clear questions about how the ongoing pandemic will impact the 2021 salary cap.

It’s worth mentioning that the Chiefs need to balance a potential extension Jones with paying QB Patrick Mahomes a record deal.

Jones is reportedly seeking a deal similar in value to teammate Frank Clark’s five-year, $105 million contract that included $63.5 million guaranteed. However, Kansas City was reportedly offering him closer to $42 million guaranteed over the first three years in a long-term deal.

The franchise tag will cost the Chiefs $16.1 million fully guaranteed for the 2020 season.

Jones, 25, is a former second-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2016. He just finished the final year of his four-year, $6.231 million contract and made a base salary of $1.19 million in the final year of the agreement.

In 2019, Jones appeared in 13 games for the Chiefs and recorded 36 tackles, nine sacks, one forced fumble, one recovery and four pass defenses.

We’ll have more regarding Jones as the news is available.