Chris Jones will place franchise tag from KC Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs will apply the franchise tag on defensive lineman Chris Jones, which gives the team some time to figure out long-term plans.

They say it’s good to have options, and that’s exactly what the Kansas City Chiefs will create for themselves when they apply the franchise tag on defensive tackle and free-agent-to-be Chris Jones.

Jones is not only the biggest potential free agent loss for the Chiefs this offseason. He’s also the best defensive player available, or at least he will be until the Chiefs apply the franchise tag on him which gives the team ultimate control of where Jones plays next season.

The franchise tag (and other such tags) allow for a team to control a player by rewarding them with a serious payday, albeit for only a single season. In this instance. if Jones is classified as a defensive tackle, then his payday is projected to land around $15.5 million.

The tag averages the top five salaries at that respective position from the last five years. The NFL then adds those five amounts and divides by the five previous salary cap totals. The NFL then figures that percentage of the average cap taken up and creates a new amount this year, thus landing on $15.5 million for a player like Jones.

Jones is a disruptive force in the heart of the Chiefs defense that would earn a significant extension from most teams in the league at this point. Jones set an NFL record in 2018 with 11 consecutive games with a sack and he followed it up this season under brand new leadership with a torrid postseason that culminated in a Super Bowl victory for the Chiefs.

The options now for the Chiefs are three-fold:

1. The tag buys them some time to exclusively negotiate with Jones to find common ground for a long-term extension, something both sides have verbally said they want.
2. The tag guarantees Jones would have to play out this season for the Chiefs if it came down to some stalemate on a long-term deal. Jones could hold out for the preseason and several games into the regular season as well, but players often come up injured if ill-prepared and the drama wouldn’t do Jones’ stock any favors.
3. The Chiefs could ultimate trade him for draft assets if they felt like the price was simply too much to include at this point. Remember the Chiefs have Frank Clark as a $20 million defender already along the line with a major extension coming for Patrick Mahomes as well.

No matter what, the tag makes the most sense for the Chiefs to apply because of the options it affords general manager Brett Veach. Now we can only hope both sides can find a way to keep Jones here for a long, long time.