Loser: Chris Jones
if Jones gets his money, then he'll feel like nothing less than a winner. I'm sure I would too.
But it didn't have to be this way. The Chiefs have been very, very interested in bringing Jones along for the long-term legacy ride from the beginning. Earlier this offseason, Brett Veach even stated that the Chiefs were thinking of preserving money for Stone Cold's long-term deal when they made the decision to trade away Tyreek Hill just over a year ago.
The up-front cost for Jones is a massive financial hit in the form of fines. Jones already owed just under $100K for missing the team's mandatory minicamp earlier this offseason. Once vets reported to St. Joseph, any further fines creeped to $50K/day. Yeah, that adds up quickly.
During an offseason in which the Chiefs should be soaking in the Super Bowl sun and Jones himself should be lifted up as the team's best defensive player (by far)—remember he was just voted into the NFL's Top 10 players overall. Now, Jones is going to have to save face with some of the team's fans and his reputation might have have been ruined already for some in the Kingdom who see him as selfish. (Recall all of the debates on social media about some players taking team-first deals versus Jones.)
In the end, there's also not a whole lot of leverage here at Jones's disposal, so the question has to be asked: To what end? Was it worth it? Maybe those of us who've never endured an Andy Reid training camp would believe we were "winners" if we could avoid it. But overall, Jones is among the losers here as well—money or not.