Quinnen Williams' deal sets stage for Chiefs and Chris Jones

The table has been set. The last piece is in place. If the Kansas City Chiefs are ever going to get a long-term deal done with defensive tackle Chris Jones, the time is now for progress toward a third contract between both parties.

On Thursday, the New York Jets came to terms on a long-term contract extension with defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. The deal was a sizable one—to the tune of four years and $96 million with $66M of that guaranteed—but given that Williams is one of the top 3-4 defensive tackles in the game and is just now coming into his own at the age of 25, the market was going to demand such a commitment.

Fans should expect a new deal for Chris Jones any day now from the Chiefs.

For weeks and months, the Chiefs and Jones have been reportedly working on a long-term contract in order to keep Jones in Kansas City for the foreseeable future (and likely the rest of his playing career). Jones is already a big-ticket item for the Chiefs with a $28M cap hit this season, but he's lived up to that deal and then some and has positioned himself as the best DT in the game not named Aaron Donald.

The hurdle for the Chiefs and Jones has been a slew of young defensive tackles who could have reset the market if someone played hardball. From Dexter Lawrence to Jeffery Simmons and Javon Hargrave to Daron Payne, it's been a rewarding financial offseason for some of the league's best interior defenders. The problem, however, is that Jones is going to want more than all of them and that meant waiting, especially on the Jets.

Now that Williams has a new deal, the Chiefs can make an offer knowing every other comp has been filled in. No more guesswork. No more variables. If a deal is not done within the next month, it will either be because Jones and his agents wanted to play hardball and see what he can get on the open market next spring or that the Chiefs flinched and didn't want to pay Jones that much money after all.

The truth, however, is that the Chiefs have to have Jones. He is a superstar who cleans house up front week in and week out for a Chiefs team that lacks a proven edge rusher who could provide anything close to the same disruption as Jones. With Quinnen Williams out of the way, Chiefs Kingdom should expect something to happen soon.