Five contracts that will shape the Kansas City Chiefs offseason

Tyreek Hill & Chris Jones

Tyreek Hill and Chris Jones are obviously two of the Chiefs most important players. Hill set franchise records at the receiver position this past season, and his blazing speed and big-play ability seem to be the perfect compliment to Patrick Mahomes. Jones was amongst the top pass rushers in all the NFL this past season and put himself in elite company with the likes of Aaron Donald and JJ Watt in terms of elite pass rushers from the defensive line position.

Not only are both of these two elite playmakers for the Chiefs, but they are just now entering the prime years of their career. Both players are entering the final year of their rookie deal and will be just 25-years-old when next season begins. This makes them both ideal players for the Chiefs to sign to extensions before they hit the open market a year from now. According to reports, that is exactly what the Chiefs plan to do.

I’m not here to debate if this should happen (I think it should) because I think its pretty much a given that it will. However, the size of the deals that they give to Hill and Jones and how they structure them could certainly have an impact both on this offseason and those for years to come.

Take Hill, who has become one of the elite wide receivers in the NFL over the past couple of seasons. His agent could certainly argue that he deserves an extension similar to the five-year, $90 million one that Odell Beckham Jr. received. That deal averages $18 million per year over the five years added to the deal. Given that the Chiefs gave Sammy Watkins a deal that averaged $16 million a year, it certainly makes sense that Hill would ask for more. That will be an obviously sizable contract.

Chris Jones is also in a great position to make big money as well. The aforementioned Donald recently signed a six-year, $135 million deal. Watt also signed a six-year extension back in 2014 for an even $100 million. Even if the Chiefs can keep Jones deal below Donald’s, it is still likely to be a five- or six-year deal with average yearly number in the upper teens. Just like Hill’s deal, this is going to be a major financial commitment.

So the real question then becomes do the Chiefs frontload these two major deals to take the biggest cap hits now and leave themselves more reasonable numbers down the road for after Mahomes signs his mega-deal? Or do they try to give themselves as much room as they can right now to add players to win during the rookie contract window? If they believe they’ll compete for the next decade with Mahomes at quarterback, they may, in fact, frontload the deals so they can continue to have spending room after Mahomes deal. If that happens then Hill and Jones deals could end up eating up most of their cap space this offseason and mean the free agent spending will have to be off the bargain bin.

On the other hand, if the Chiefs backload the deals, they would still have plenty of space to make more moves this offseason to potentially build a roster that would be the clear favorite in the AFC next season. Or perhaps they attempt to split the deals evenly to distribute the cap space both now and in the future. My guess is the Chiefs already know which approach they are taking, but the rest of us won’t know until these deals are done. Regardless, the Chiefs approach to these contracts will definitely shape the rest of their offseason plan.

Now let’s talk about two veterans whose cap numbers could lead to some kind of move this offseason.