Chiefs Per Verderame: Veach would prefer to keep Chris Jones - Page 22

Interesting article here. Not a huge fan of Verderame but he was at the Super Bowl and he does go to the combine. I think he gets some tips, albeit from Terez (who is a nice guy).

Here is the most interesting part of the article. 2021 and 2022 would be extremely difficult to manage.

Originally Posted by :

What the Chiefs can do with their money

Looking at Kansas City’s cap situation, it can release wide receiver Sammy Watkins and linebacker Damien Wilson, clearing out $18.5 million in space. Combined with rollover money and already existing room, that’s enough cash for Veach to tag Jones, re-sign a few other pending free agents and extend Patrick Mahomes.

Speaking of Mahomes, the 24-year-old quarterback is likely to soon be the highest-paid player in the league. This is another important factor to consider.

Let’s play GM for a moment and do the following to the Chiefs’ roster:

•Cut Sammy Watkins
•Cut Damien Wilson
•Cut Cam Erving

Extend Patrick Mahomes on a five-year, $200 million deal
Use franchise tag on Chris Jones
Allow $10 million for free agents and draft picks
Keep $2 million in emergency space
Using the Jared Goff and Carson Wentz extension structures as a template, Mahomes’ cap hit would approximately be $11 million this season. Factor in Jones’ tag and the $12 million outlined above, and Kansas City is laying out $35 million.

The Chiefs could do it. But while it’s palatable for 2020, what about 2021 and beyond?

If Kansas City gave Mahomes the aforementioned extension, his cap number would be enormous in 2021, potentially the full $40 million figure. If the Chiefs also signed Jones to Clark’s exact deal, the cap number would be $22.7 million in 2021.

If we account for a slight rise in the NFL salary cap both this year and next, it’ll be around $210 million. Under these parameters, Kansas City would be looking at the following cap hits in 2021:

Patrick Mahomes ($40M)
Frank Clark ($24.2M)
Chris Jones ($22.7)
Tyrann Mathieu ($19.7M)
Tyreek Hill ($15.7M)
In total, the top five players on the Chiefs would be earning $122.3 million, or 58 percent of the salary cap.

Going into this offseason with a projected $200 million salary cap, only one team is currently allocating more than 50 percent to their top five players: the Los Angeles Rams at 54 percent.

Kansas City can always create cap space with extensions and releases, but tying up such a large chunk of money in five players is dangerous. The Chiefs would be largely unable to sign any other meaningful free agents for a few years — including their own — while being completely reliant on the draft to restock departing talent.

In his three years at the helm, Veach has proven to believe in acquiring top-shelf talent and filling in around them with low-cost, high-upside veteran deals (see: Damien Williams, Stefen Wisniewski, Mike Pennel) and rookie deals.

Jones certainly fits Veach’s profile. The question is if he fits into Kansas City’s payroll.

https://fansided.com/2020/02/10/chri...mpression=true
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Originally Posted by pugsnotdrugs19:
Here’s the big thing that we aren’t talking about enough when it comes to retaining Jones in my mind.

Say they re-sign him. You’ve got all your expensive stars in place, including:

- Mahomes
- Hill
- Kelce
- Schwartz
- Fisher
- Jones
- Clark
- Mathieu

Alright, so those 8 guys in combination take up a huge chunk of the cap while also putting you right back in the AFCCG if they’re all healthy. If they’re all healthy.

What happens as soon as one or even two of them go down to injury? Not even including Mahomes. Your roster is probably going to be bare enough elsewhere that you just can’t compete with the other contenders out there that have a deeper roster.

Now, if this cap goes way way up, then it may not be the same type of problem. But as is, this is our reality in my mind if Jones is kept at $20M per year. As soon as we lose one of those big 8, good chance we’re toast. Maybe that’s the case either way, idk. Thinking out loud.

CP melt down?

Dammit Carl?

Run Veach out of town with a pitchfork?

Early exit from the playoffs?

All of the above?
[Reply]

Originally Posted by Megatron96:
I agree. This is the part of the business that I kind of dislike. We have a player that balled out and helped us win a Super Bowl, and we reward him by shipping him off to a team that has no shot at the playoffs next year, probably no shot for the next two or even three years, and he may never play for a winner ever again.

Basically because of the cap, we have to pull a “here’s your hat, what’s your hurry, see ya later!” It kind of sucks all around.

It's just the reality of being in a hard cap league. I'm with The Franchise. Sending him to Florida with $100M and no state income tax is a pretty good deal for Jones. Beats the hell out of getting sent to a bad team in super cold weather with high taxes.
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Originally Posted by DRM08:
Nobody is forcing him to demand $20M (or more) per season. I think they would keep him at $15M. Is he willing to give that kind of discount? I strongly doubt it.

Even if he doesn't demand $20 million, my point is that he's almost more valuable to the Chiefs this season as leverage for draft capital than he is on the field. It's no secret we need draft picks to fill the holes in our defense, maybe draft an OL, a RB, etc. Trading Jones to whoever would give us a couple extra picks, maybe even an extra 1st rounder.

Chris Jones is NFL collateral. What he wants, and even what he's willing to do to stay in KC have become secondary to what the team needs or thinks they need.

If I were Veach, I'd try to keep Jones, because "you don't fix what ain't broke." Jones was great this year, played great in the playoffs, and will be even better this coming season more than likely. And the odds of finding anyone in the draft to replace his production is nearly zero.

But the lure of those extra picks might just be too much for Veach to leave on the table.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by Megatron96:
Even if he doesn't demand $20 million, my point is that he's almost more valuable to the Chiefs this season as leverage for draft capital than he is on the field. It's no secret we need draft picks to fill the holes in our defense, maybe draft an OL, a RB, etc. Trading Jones to whoever would give us a couple extra picks, maybe even an extra 1st rounder.

Chris Jones is NFL collateral. What he wants, and even what he's willing to do to stay in KC have become secondary to what the team needs or thinks they need.

If I were Veach, I'd try to keep Jones, because "you don't fix what ain't broke." Jones was great this year, played great in the playoffs, and will be even better this coming season more than likely. And the odds of finding anyone in the draft to replace his production is nearly zero.

But the lure of those extra picks might just be too much for Veach to leave on the table.

Better after getting paid the big money? That's not usually the case in pro sports.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by DRM08:
Better after getting paid the big money? That's not usually the case in pro sports.

I'd like to see some actual hard numbers on that. i know that's the commonly held take, but I wonder just how true it is.

But my take was that Jones is going to be a better player. For example, after he came back from his knee injury, he seemed to be getting better at run stopping. He also seemed to be more comfortable in Spags' scheme. And it's highly likely that he'd improve in those areas next season, as his experience grew.

There's no factual evidence that Chris Jones would backslide just because he got paid big money. Just because some other players did in the past has no direct bearing on whether or not Jones would do the same. He's not necessarily one of those guys.
[Reply]

Originally Posted by Megatron96:
I'd like to see some actual hard numbers on that. i know that's the commonly held take, but I wonder just how true it is.

But my take was that Jones is going to be a better player. For example, after he came back from his knee injury, he seemed to be getting better at run stopping. He also seemed to be more comfortable in Spags' scheme. And it's highly likely that he'd improve in those areas next season, as his experience grew.

There's no factual evidence that Chris Jones would backslide just because he got paid big money. Just because some other players did in the past has no direct bearing on whether or not Jones would do the same. He's not necessarily one of those guys.

He might not be, but what if he is? It turns into a massive waste of money for KC. It would not be the first time that has happened for them with very high paid defensive players. Just one of numerous reasons to trade him.
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