Chris Jones explains decision-making process during holdout from Chiefs

Chris Jones is glad to be back in the building.

As the Kansas City Chiefs held their daily press conferences on Wednesday as part of their preparation for the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Jones was given an opportunity to answer questions. And there were many.

For Jones, the last several weeks have been lost in a contractual holdout. Instead of coming together with teammates to get ready for a new season and, more specifically, a title defense after winning Super Bowl LVII. The end result was Jones's glaring absence from OTAs, from mandatory minicamp, from training camp in St. Joseph, and from any and all preseason activities or games.

When asked about his decision to remain away from the team in St. Joseph, Jones shouldered the blame there instead of deflecting it to his agents—the Katz brothers—saying he didn't want to distract from the reason everyone else was there.

"I kinda made the decision not to come to camp", said Jones. "I didn’t want to be a distraction of holding in. I’m super pleased with how it turned out. I’m back in the building and I’m excited to be back. I’m thankful for the organization that they were able to boost my salary up to make up for the fines and everything, so I’m super grateful for that.

"And we're focused on winning the next game," he continued. "We’ve got the Jacksonville Jaguars coming in—a very good team—coming off of a loss to the Detroit Lions, which is tough. But yeah, we’re looking for a bounce back week."

When asked questions about the future, Jones was quick to spurn them and steered the attention back on the present matchup in Week 2 against Jacksonville. Jones did admit, however, that he might change his approach if he could do it again, although he sidestepped defining further what he meant by the following, "I’d probably change some things. When you have a lot of new guys, it’s kinda tough to be away, especially in that d-line room. Building that chemistry is important to be successful as a group, but those are decisions you have to live with."

As for what's next, Jones is ready to take things like his head coach: one gam at a time. "I can’t look forward to nextdhsff year. Right now I’m only focused on…. I’m glad to be back this year. If this is my last year, hopefully we can get something worked out after the year for the long-term. I’ve reiterated multiple times that I plan to play for the Kansas City Chiefs for the long haul in my career. That doesn’t change because of the past situation."