Chiefs Reportedly Made Three-Year Offer to Chris Jones 

An update on the Chris Jones contract negotiations

Craig McMullen

The Chiefs made defensive end Chris Jones a three-year offer to replace the $19.5 million he’s supposed to earn in 2023, via Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk.com. 

The Chiefs reportedly offered Jones a three-year $74 million contract, which equals $24.67 million per year. Jones is reportedly looking for three-year $84.5 million.

According to this - the difference between what Jones is asking for and what the Chiefs are offering is $10.5 million. 

This offer to Jones would be $7 million per year less than what Los Angeles Rams Aaron Donald is making on his current deal. Donald is the highest paid defensive end in the league who is earning $95 million over three years ($31.67 million per year) on his current contract. 

With the Chiefs home opener against the Detroit Lions less than a week away, Jones continues his holdout which will extend through the season if a deal doesn’t get done.

Coach Andy Reid said that the confidence level on the defensive line without Jones is positive because it means next man up and more players get the chance to play. 

“So I would tell you, you move on,” Reid said. “Chris (Jones) is a great player, but we’ve got other good players. They’ll have to step their game up to fill the role of defensive tackle, defensive end and so on. Everybody just has to play their best and then you work through it. But to think that you’re going to fill in for Chris, that’s not what you’re doing.

“The next man comes and you try to utilize his strengths and let him get in there and play. We’ve had success doing that and so we’ll do it again.”

Reid said players have different ways of going about contract negotiations and that he is confident in the defensive line and the whole team with or without Jones.

“Everybody makes their own decisions, I mean, that’s the way it is in life and that’s the way it is in football,” Reid said. “Chris (Jones) has chosen to go this route, some other guys have chosen to get their deals done and come in and play. We’ve had a lot of success with the guys that we have and we go with it.

“My standpoint is that we’ve got a heck of a Lions team coming in here and with the guys we’ve got we’re going to get those guys ready to play against the Lions and I know they’ll be fired up to play.”