The best defensive player on the Chiefs is heading for free agency. Unless the Chiefs stop him from getting there.
Will Kansas City apply the franchise tag to Chris Jones? The recent decision to pick up his option didn’t extend the deal; it preserved the ability to use the tag. And the tag is expected to be $32.16 million, a 20-percent bump over his 2023 cap number of $26.808 million.
Should the Chiefs tag him? Yes, it keeps him off the market. It also saddles the team with a massive cap number for one player, unless and until the deal is extended and the cap number is reduced.
It also complicates, dramatically, the process of working out a long-term deal. Obviously, $32.16 million for 2024 would become the starting point for talks. Year two becomes much trickier; because Jones was tagged in 2020, tagging him again in 2025 would be his third franchise tag. By rule, he’d be in line for the average cap number of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in 2024 or a 44-percent bump over his 2024 cap number (i.e., $46.31 million), whichever is greater.
Jones, by taking the tag and not agreeing to an extension, would set himself up for $32.16 million this year and a ticket to free agency in 2025.
The Chiefs also could tag and trade Jones. While the tag wasn’t involved in the trade of receiver Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs decided that, in lieu of giving the player a market-level contract, they’d get value for his deal and move on. The fact that the Chiefs have won two straight Super Bowls since trading Hill to Miami validates that approach.
There’s an obvious difference between Hill and Jones, however. The offense would reconfigure itself without Hill; there’s no easy way for the defense to thrive without Jones. A defense either has an interior force who can blow up a play and wreak havoc, or it doesn’t. The Chiefs would need to find another one, if they trade Jones.
Regardless, the two-week window for tagging Jones opens on Tuesday. And the Chiefs could be one of the teams tempted to apply the tag before the Scouting Combine, in order to remove the incentive for other teams to talk turkey with one of the most disruptive forces in football.