Brett Veach prioritizing re-signing Chris Jones, L'Jarius Sneed

[RunKC]

What some of us have been wondering...

HENDERSON, Nev. -- Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said he is aware of the challenge the organization faces in re-signing both defensive tackle Chris Jones and cornerback L'Jarius Sneed but said it would be an offseason priority to get both players under new contracts.

"Sometimes I look at our situation and I'm like, 'I don't know how we're going to do this,' but we usually work through things systematically and have a list of the priorities,'' Veach said as the Chiefs continued preparations for Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers. "Certainly, Chris and LJ are at the top of the list.

"It's extremely hard because you have two keystone players there.''

Jones, 29, has been one of the NFL's top pass-rushers for years. He had 10.5 sacks this season to tie for the team lead after missing training camp and the first regular-season game while holding out for a new contract.

He didn't get the extension he was looking for, but the Chiefs sweetened the final season of his existing contract.

"It was important for us to mend the fences with Chris because we love him and he's an iconic player here, not just here, but I mean of all time,'' Veach said. "That was important for us, and we'll continue to work hard and see if we can get something done, but it will be a priority for us.''

The Chiefs used Sneed, 27, this season to defend against the opponent's top receiver much of the time, and none had big games against him.

Jones and Sneed are key players for an improved Chiefs defense that allowed fewer points than all but one other team during the regular season and held the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens to 41 total points in the playoffs.

The Chiefs had defenses that were at times competitive since Patrick Mahomes became their starting quarterback in 2018, but rarely were they consistently so. Veach and the Chiefs found the task of building a top defense difficult because the past few seasons they were carrying Mahomes' massive contract.

"I still remember in '17 and '18 just saying if we can just get them to punt just once we've got a shot,'' Veach said. "Now all of a sudden it's like all we've got to do is just score once and we're good.

"Going from where we were in '17 and '18 to having one of the best defenses, knowing the constraints we had of just paying [Mahomes] and probably drafting later [in rounds], I don't think I ever envisioned having a top one or two defense.''

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...-ljarius-sneed

[myselff77]

Originally Posted by comochiefsfan

At the same time, he undoubtedly feels a responsibility to help his peers get paid their worth

The only correct response to this is, Patrick Mahomes has no peers currently in the NFL playing QB.

[MIAdragon]

Originally Posted by TheGuardian

This is something that comes up that never makes ****ing sense to me.

"He has to get that money while he can."

WHAT MONEY? HOW MUCH?

Anyone on the planet should be able to live out their life with 5 million in the bank if they just aren't out buying dumb shit on the daily like Iverson did.

So I wish people would about this when these dudes make enough in one season to last for them and their grandkids lives.

Seriously. Who knows how much Pat even makes from just endorsements alone. Kelsey is worth over 100 million. Pat has to already have that.

So why is this even a discussion in here? I've never understood these convos.

5 million? Won't go as far as you think.

[notorious]

I love Chris Jones to death, didn’t mind if the Chiefs let him go earlier in the year but he’s made it a lot harder now.

I still think you make the tough decision to keep Sneed and let Jones go. Spags will figure out how to get pressure with different guys.

Besides, aren’t we all looking forward to opposing fans telling us the chiefs are done because we lost Chris Jones only only to keep winning titles in different ways?

[Red Dawg]

I was against giving into Joles but whatever. We need to keep both of them.

[DJ's left nut]

My thoughts on Jones over in the draft forum:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

So let's say he'll sign a 5 year deal with a couple years of fluff at the back end.

Let's say it's something like 5/$150 and its structured:

Signing bonus: $40 million

Salaries: 10/15/20/30/35

Cap hits: 18/23/28; dead cap of $16 million in '27 (or $8 million/season spread over '27 and '28)

Don't you get something close to what he's asking for that way? And at least 2 years of cap hits commensurate with his likely production. You're mostly out of the woods by the time you need to extend McDuffie, Karlaftis or Rice.

Is that in the ballpark of worth doing? That 3rd year will be a little gnarly though you could probably bonus out that base in '26 and push some of the salary into dead money if you felt so inclined.

I mean we NEEDED both Jones and Sneed on Sunday. We don't win that game without both of 'em. And that deal would seem to make it possible to keep both of them. If you can get Jones on an $18 million cap hit and Sneed on say a $14 million hit (presuming an extension, $18 million if tagged) then you could still go to the Mahomes restructure well for a little extra to try to bring another WR option in here.

Where that would sting is in the attempts to get the Tranquill/Edwards sort of cheaper quality veterans to supplement the roster. But with the strength of the 2022 draft, are we in a position that we really NEED that?

The big issue it would seem to create is OT - it might hem us in to needing Wanya to start or draft a 1st round OT. But it could be done.

Long-term it's likely not the right decision. But for 2024, it's almost certainly the path to our strongest possible team, right? And man, it's a possible 3-peat; I think right now you HAVE to focus more on 2024 than 2025 and beyond.

It's never been done and you have an open lane to do it. I think that's the way you have to approach this off-season. Use the Credit Card a bit and attack the 2024 season.

I think you can bring them both back without mortgaging TOO much. It'll take a little compromise from Jones (and if he's wanting 4 years of 'real' money, it's not going to happen). But if he's willing to accept some fake money at the back of the deal, you can bring them both back without really blasting the cap.

And then you can use restructures as Taylor/Mahomes are willing to clear another $40 million as needed to look into adding more weapons/OT help.

It's not a brutally difficult path forward to keep this roster largely intact and even boost it in some key areas. It's not my normal path, but pursuing a 3-peat aint a normal scenario.

[notorious]

Just do the Denver move and promise him a ton of money to be a consultant after he retires.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rausch

The players want a bigger share of the revenue coming in. And revenue is at an all time high while the cap only goes up 10-20% each year.

It's the player's bodies that get ruined. It's their 10-15 surgeries during a career. I don't blame them.

The cap floor is tied to revenue. It isn't how much the cap goes UP that determines what the overwhelming majority of players get, it's the floor that does it.

The cap controls the salaries at the high end; the few dozen guys every year that can really push the market. But there are literally thousands of NFL players and for most of them, the spending floor determines how much they'll be able to make.

And if the NFLPA thinks they're not getting a fair share of the revenue split, then they should stop trading capital in negotiations for fewer practice days and lighter drug testing.

I think you're overstating the complaints of the NFLPA here.

[blake5676]

Originally Posted by TheGuardian

Dude I'm friends with LOTS of former NFL players and work with them at times, and this shit is not true. None of it. Sure there's guys here or there with lasting injuries but this shit has been blown so out of proportion it's insane.

And even if you needed 10 surgeries why do you need 50 million dollars?

This post is insane on multiple levels. To first off pretend that these guys don't pay a physical price later in life is just factually inaccurate. People that work on the line at Ford pay a price for the wear and tear on their bodies...these players sure as shit do.

And in regards to the money part, why shouldn't they be paid handsomely? The money is there...it's the biggest money making machine in all of entertainment. If not the players, who should those dollars go to? And who are you to say how much money someone needs? Many of these players are earning money for not only themselves, but entire family trees present and future. They are worth exactly what someone will pay them and they'd be stupid not to maximize those earnings in the very short window they have to acquire that wealth.

If a player has made 9 figures and is on the tail end of their career I suppose I can understand taking a little less to stay somewhere they prefer, but thats a small number of guys in this league.

[Sassy Squatch]

Do you just tag Jones if his agents still want to be smarmy little ****s and be done with it? Veach was willing to give him 2 more years at 27.5 million each almost fully guaranteed. The tag number is in that ballpark, and easily affordable if they really are going to restructure Mahomes. This is of course assuming we sign Sneed to a LTD.

[TheGuardian]

Originally Posted by blake5676

This post is insane on multiple levels. To first off pretend that these guys don't pay a physical price later in life is just factually inaccurate. People that work on the line at Ford pay a price for the wear and tear on their bodies...these players sure as shit do.

And in regards to the money part, why shouldn't they be paid handsomely? The money is there...it's the biggest money making machine in all of entertainment. If not the players, who should those dollars go to? And who are you to say how much money someone needs? Many of these players are earning money for not only themselves, but entire family trees present and future. They are worth exactly what someone will pay them and they'd be stupid not to maximize those earnings in the very short window they have to acquire that wealth.

If a player has made 9 figures and is on the tail end of their career I suppose I can understand taking a little less to stay somewhere they prefer, but thats a small number of guys in this league.

I'm speaking from actual experience you chode. I literally work with several former players and they all still train and lift and do athletic shit at high levels. They aren't the ****ing walking wounded.

Second, the whole "they are paying for their family family" blah blah, dude . No family linage needs 100 million dollars to "get by". And second, all the players I talk to have been smart with their money and don't feel like their NFL careers were meant to setup their great grandkids for prosperity.

You're just repeating a bunch of nonsense most of you who just jerk off online to this stuff do. Stay in your lane and pipe down.

[kccrow]

I'm not trying to shit on anyone's parade but you just have to look at the mathematics and reality of the situation in some way and realize it's just not overly feasible to keep both Sneed and Jones. You can only back-end so much money in reality on a deal. You can only ignore so much when it comes to the other FAs you have to sign/re-sign.

I posted already that you can get 28.7 by fullying pushing Mahomes' 35.9m roster bonus into signing bonus (1/5th will still end up on this year's cap). If you keep Jones, you just ate up the bulk of that. So basically, call that Jones + 2024 In-Season Operating Cash.

Everything else you do from that point is reliant upon the cap space you already know that you have, which is approximately 24m + 12m for cutting MVS. Now, maybe you can manage something with Omenihu and pick up around 5m there. You aren't gaining much in probably much of anything else you do and then there are things you just don't want to do like pushing money with Thuney or Kelce.

Now, a segment of the money you have is going to sign your draft class. Right now our rookie pool is 8.3m with a top-51 valuation somewhere around 2.8m So let's just call a minimum of 3m is going to be added to our cap liabilities so now you are at about 33m in space.

You have 5 ERFAs and you usually keep those because they are cheap. So take off 4.5m for those guys. You're at 28.5m.

You have 19 other UFA/RFA players. Every UFA pretty much costs 1.1m or more. If you are counting our draft picks to take over some of those spots, then you need to sign 13 players, at least. That automatically has you down to 14m in remaining cap IF you were only signing vet min guys to fill those 13 holes. Now, we all know you aren't going to spend only vet min on every single one.

So, how are you finding a way to fit one of the best CBs in the league in there? The truth is, you're probably not. Sneed would have to take a massive first-year discount on his contract and backload the deal. Essentially he'd be making his signing bonus this year. What do you think his odds are of upping that if he hits the market? I bet they are more than good.

You aren't franchising Sneed either. That hit is 18.4m.

It's keep Jones or keep Sneed and maybe bolster some other spots a bit more. You have to pick your poison. It's really that simple.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by TheGuardian

Second, the whole "they are paying for their family family" blah blah, dude . No family linage needs 100 million dollars to "get by". And second, all the players I talk to have been smart with their money and don't feel like their NFL careers were meant to setup their great grandkids for prosperity.

I don't know, Chris Jones has to pay for two everywhere he goes.

[O.city]

It's not as much as Sneed being ok doing it as it is Clark being open to writing a big check.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by TheGuardian

This is something that comes up that never makes ****ing sense to me.

"He has to get that money while he can."

WHAT MONEY? HOW MUCH?

Anyone on the planet should be able to live out their life with 5 million in the bank if they just aren't out buying dumb shit on the daily like Iverson did.

So I wish people would about this when these dudes make enough in one season to last for them and their grandkids lives.

Seriously. Who knows how much Pat even makes from just endorsements alone. Kelsey is worth over 100 million. Pat has to already have that.

So why is this even a discussion in here? I've never understood these convos.

You feel the same way about all of those billionaires and CEOs making millions as well?

[FloridaMan88]

No dragging it out with Chris Jones this offseason would be my hope.

Either he is willing to work with the Chiefs to stay or if he is intent on getting $30+ million AAV then the Chiefs can move on.