Chris Jones will not be reaching the market. The three-time Chiefs Super Bowl winning defensive tackle has been retained on a monster extension, as first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The deal is five years in length and includes a staggering $95M in guaranteed money, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes.
Jones’ agency has since confirmed the move, which will ensure his Kansas City tenure continues and adds considerably to his career earnings. The five-time Pro Bowler was on track to be the top prize amongst defenders in free agency, but the Chiefs made consistent efforts recently to retain him. That has now taken place, with the agreement shattering the record for guaranteed compensation at the D-tackle spot.
Schefter clarifies Jones will receive the $95M figure – which is guaranteed in full – over the first three years of the pact. That $31.67M average matches the AAV mark set by Aaron Donald on his historic Rams extension, but it far outpaces the $46.5M guaranteed which Donald’s deal included. The deal is still being ironed out, per Schefter, but once finalized it will move Jones to the top of the DT pecking order.
The 29-year-old had been seeking a deal in the $30M-per-year range, and he has indeed landed it. Jones was always Kansas City’s top free agent priority, despite a younger defensive stalwart (cornerback L’Jarius Sneed) also being in need of a new deal. The latter has been franchise-tagged, but it remains to be seen if he will be retained or traded to avoid a 2025 free-agent departure. Regardless of what happens in the team’s secondary, Kansas City’s defensive front will remain strong given Jones’ continued presence.
Earning first-team All-Pro honors in each of the past two seasons, Jones has not slowed. The Mississippi State product has totaled 26 sacks over that span in the regular season, adding 2.5 in the postseason. Game-changing plays in the playoffs have remained a fixture for Jones, as he as contributed immensely to the Chiefs’ dynasty construction. Given his durability – multiple missed games in only two seasons – a long-term investment could be less risky from the team’s perspective than most others with players his age.
Kansas City has seen head coach Andy Reid commit to playing at least one more season (and likely more) in an offseason after Patrick Mahomes had his own mega-deal restructured. Jones agreeing to a re-up means all three pillars of the Chiefs’ core will be intact moving forward. In the latter’s case, it comes with the added benefit of avoiding a repeat of the holdout which began the 2023 regular season.
Jones remained out of the lineup through Week 1 this past campaign, missing out on a game check in addition to fines incurred from missed training camp time. He and the team worked out a one-year deal laden with incentives, but hammering out another multi-year pact was an obvious priority for team and player. Working one out before free agency was the expectation of many around the league and to no surprise Jones has landed a raise from the four-year, $80M pact he inked in 2020.
As of Saturday, the two-time defending champions sat at just $1.2M in cap space, a figure which of course did not include Jones given his pending free agency (although he will account for $3.4M in dead money with his previous deal already having voided). The structure of the guaranteed payouts – along with whatever compensation is included in Years 4 and 5 – will be interesting given the importance of Kansas City maintaining cap flexibility in the immediate future.
The team is expected to devote finances to the offensive side of the ball (aside from this historic Jones agreement, of course) this offseason. That comes as no surprise given Kansas City’s inconsistency relative to its defense in 2023. Jones will remain an anchor of DC Steve Spagnolo‘s unit for the foreseeable future, though, something which will have a ripple effect around the league next week.
Jones coming off the board leaves a major vacancy at the top of the DT market. Christian Wilkins is now positioned as the best player at the position on track to land a deal with an outside suitor. In the short term in Wilkins’ case, as well as the long term given the upward financial trajectory along the defensive interior, this Jones deal will keep moving the bar higher in terms of both annual and guaranteed compensation.
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