09 March 2024 , 05:00
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Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones has hinted at his future with the team just days before the start of NFL free agency.
Jones, 29, will become a free agent on March 13 and can start talking to other teams two days earlier. That is because the Chiefs decided to use their annual franchise tag on cornerback L'Jarius Sneed - who could yet find a trade away from the team - instead of the three-time Super Bowl champion.
Kansas City is the only team Jones has played for since he joined the league in the 2016 NFL Draft after three seasons at Mississippi State. After eight seasons together, time is of the essence, and a decision could come soon.
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This idea comes from a post by Jones that says: "KC......" and shows a screenshot from an iPhone during a call that had been going on for at least an hour. The image also shows a photo from Super Bowl LVIII of Jones lying on the field after the game with Chiefs head coach Andy Reid about to hug him during the celebrations.
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Reid was on The Rich Eisen Show on Thursday and answered the inevitable question about Jones. "Not a whole lot (of news to share)," the coach said. "We'd love to have him back.
"(General Manager) Brett Veach and his (front office) gang are working through that. (Vice President of Football Operations/Team Counsel) Chris Shea works with our cap and does the contracts.
"So, they're all working through this thing. We've had great communication. So, we'll just see where it goes from here." At the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Veach talked about the contract situations of Jones and Sneed.
"You'd like to be able to tag all the guys and pay all the guys," said the GM." It's tough because the more you win, the more you've got to pay players, and, obviously, when you have this amount of success, you're paying a lot of players a lot of money, and then it's equally as tough, because you're drafting late.
"Certainly, we want to do what we can to try to keep both those players, and that's going to be our goal and intent.
Jones played a pivotal part in the Chiefs winning Super Bowl LVIII (Getty Images)"Hopefully, we'll be able to figure something out. But every free agency is different, unique and crazy... But I think our goal is to try to get both those players done and then work down the rest of our roster.
He also shared some hopeful thoughts about the chance of both players coming back next season: "If you get close in negotiations, I think you get the added benefit of the ties to the Chiefs.
It is a money deal at the end of the day, and people aren't going to turn down a huge discrepancy in contracts, but I think we get the benefit of breaking all ties."