Chris Jones is in the middle of a contract standoff with the Kansas City Chiefs and threatening to sit out the season.
Jones was a second-round pick by the Chiefs in 2016 and originally signed a 4-year, $6.23 million deal that he has fulfilled. The former Mississippi State defensive lineman had 15.5 sacks in 2018 and nine last season and vastly outperformed his rookie deal.
KC franchise-tagged Jones and he hasn’t signed his tender yet. On Tuesday, NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo said Jones deserves a contract extension but doesn’t expect one to happen. Jones responded on Twitter and threatened not to play like Le’Veon Bell.
Bell sat out the entire 2018 season over a contract dispute with the Pittsburgh Steelers and never signed his franchise tag tender. He ended up signing with the Jets in the offseason for the kind of guaranteed money he was seeking.
The Chiefs have not had much movement in contract talks with Jones because they likely do not want to commit a certain amount of money to him based on the current market when they anticipate the salary cap and league revenues dropping in the immediate future. They also have a contract with Patrick Mahomes to eventually work out.
If Jones were to skip the season, he would be passing up $16.1 million from the franchise tag, which is more than two and a half times his career earnings thus far. But he has been playing hardball all offseason long, so you can’t put anything past him.
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