Chiefs Unlikely To Tag Chris Jones In 2024?

According to Adam Schefter, the Chiefs are unlikely to be able to use the franchise tag to keep DT Chris Jones in 2024. 

Schefter explains the financial context would make this challenging for Kansas City, which is currently projected to be right at the cap for 2024 in terms of current salary obligations. 

While they can and likely will clear room via restructures and cuts, Schefter points out Jones’ tag is expected to be around $32 million, which is a huge amount for one season. He adds it would be impractical for the Chiefs to tag Jones and they’re not expected to go that route. 

Jones did not secure a no-tag clause as a part of his reworked one-year deal that ended his contract holdout, but Schefter says in the end that probably won’t matter. 

The two sides have said the relationship remains good even though no long-term deal was signed. It’s possible they could reach an agreement this offseason, as Jones has said he loves playing in Kansas City and wants to stay there for the rest of his career. 

But the Chiefs will likely be bidding against other teams to keep Jones, unlike this past offseason. 

Jones, 28, is a former second-round pick of the Chiefs back in 2016 out of Mississippi State. He played out 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.

The Chiefs franchised Jones before eventually signing him a four-year, $85M extension that included $60 million guaranteed. 

Jones is entering the final year of that deal and is set to make a base salary of $19.5 million in 2023. The team gave him $6.75 million in incentives in order to end his contract holdout.

In 2022, Jones appeared in all 17 games for the Chiefs and recorded 44 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, 15.5 sacks, two forced fumbles, a recovery and four passes defended.

We’ll have more on the Chiefs and Jones as the news is available.