Chiefs rumors: Chris Jones extension is ‘probably back-burnered’

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated believes that the Chiefs’ rumored contract extension with Chris Jones is “probably back-burnered” until after the draft.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a number of contract extensions that would make sense to offer up at this point, especially on the defensive side where players like cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and linebacker Willie Gay are potentially ready to move into their second contracts with the team. However, none of these decisions loom as large as the extension deserved by defensive tackle Chris Jones.

Last year, Jones produced a career season in his seventh year with the Chiefs franchise. He had 17 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks and placed himself squarely in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year. As he heads into a contract year, Jones is only going to get more expensive if allowed to hit the open market and given his importance for a Super Bowl contender, it makes sense to lock him up for the rest of his prime years.

The Chiefs and Jones have acknowledged the contract publicly and Jones himself has said he doesn’t plan on playing for another franchise for the rest of his career. That said, Chiefs Kingdom only have to remember a single year ago when wide receiver Tyreek Hill was surprisingly traded to realize that everyone has a price—or an asking price that’s deemed too high.

The presumption for some time has been that the Chiefs and Jones would reach a deal, but with so little mention of any progress at all, NFL reporter Albert Breer handled a question about the status of things in K.C. in a recent mailbag column. He answered with “I certainly wouldn’t say it’s no longer happening” and then wrote the following:

"“I think this negotiation, like a lot of them, is probably back-burnered until after the draft. I could still see the Chiefs adding a veteran receiver over the next couple of weeks, and there could be an extra need or two to be addressed coming out of the draft, and all of that can affect how you’d structure a big deal like Jones’s promises to be.”"

The timing of the extension makes sense to wait until after the draft. At that point, the business of the front office will have settled down after the draft and subsequent free agent frenzy. Instead, the Chiefs can get some in-house business in order, including an extension for Jones and maybe others. Also remember that Jones signed his first extension in mid-July, which shows just how long things might take after all.

The one risk to waiting at this stage is about how far the market might jump, but it’s possible the Chiefs aren’t really worried about that. However, the asking price for the NFL’s best defensive tackles will rise with Dexter Lawrence, Quinnen Williams, and Christian Wilkins all due extensions, too.