Andy Reid caught off guard by Chris Jones’ holdout

After initially stating that he believed defensive tackle Chris Jones would be with the team for training camp, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had to come to grips with the reality of a holdout from the team’s leading pass rusher.

Considering that Jones is sacrificing $50,000 a day for every day he misses of camp, Reid said he was “a bit surprised” at his defender’s choice.

“We’ll just see how things go here down the road. There had been communication. We’ll see where it goes from here, and we’ll take it,” Reid said, via Jesse Newell of the Kansas City Star. “If you’re not here, we just keep moving. That’s how we roll.”

“They’re doing their thing. We’re doing our thing,” Reid added. “We’ll just see where it goes from there.”

According to a report from NFL insider Adam Schefter, the two sides were still “far apart” on an agreement over the weekend.

The Chiefs selected Jones in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of Mississippi State, where he started all 13 games as a junior. Since entering the NFL, Jones has made four Pro Bowls and got his first All-Pro selection last season. He’s set to make $19.5 million this year, according to Spotrac.

Jones is gearing up for the final year of a four-year contract he signed after the Chiefs used the franchise tag. Last season was the best of his career as he totaled 44 tackles and tied his career-high with 15.5 sacks.

He was a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award as a result, finishing third in voting behind Micah Parsons and eventual winner Nick Bosa. He capped the season off with the Lombardi Trophy after posting three tackles in the Super Bowl win over the Eagles.

More on the negotiations between Jones and Chiefs

The hope in Kansas City was that a deal would get done in time for camp, ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reported earlier this month. One of the issues the Chiefs are facing is the salary cap, and their limited space is making talks harder.

“The Chiefs would like to give him that long-term extension,” Darlington said. “I’m told that they are still optimistic that this will get done — likely before training camp — for Chris Jones. And this is significant for a number of reasons, not just the contract itself. The Chiefs right now are just barely below the salary cap, one of the highest salary caps right now in the league. If they can do that deal with Jones, they can ultimately bring this number down.”

Jones also skipped the mandatory minicamp, subjecting himself to fines of almost $100,000.

General manager Brett Veach also talked about Jones’ contract situation this offseason. He pointed to the team’s relationship with its star defender.

“Listen, we have a long history together and we have a great relationship with his agent,” Veach said. “I mean, these things usually get worked out right before [or] right during the first start of camp so we anticipate the same, and we’ll see how it goes.”

On3’s Suzanne Halliburton contributed to this report.