Once guys hit the market, they aren't likely coming back.

It's fine guys, it is what it is.

Decisions like this are why what KC is doing is so phenomenal. The dynasties of the 90s and before did not have to deal with FA and a salary cap like KC does. It made keeping the best players much easier than now.

If we let him test the market the poison pill doesn’t matter. If he finds his worth, bring it back to Veach. At that point, is it about the money, or staying in KC? Provided Veach will go close to his market value.

Didn’t Trent Williams just do that 3 or 4 years ago. Veach offered him, and he took a similar number, maybe even less, to stay a 49er?

If for no other reason than taxes, Trent definitely took less to stay there.

#1 priority should be to get an "X" wide receiver then figure out what to do with Sneed and Jones. I can't imagine that they pay Jones. He'll be 30 next year

One caveat that got thrown in this year is back in August when they were offering Chris 27.5 AAV... I don't think they planned to keep LJ at the time. Certainly not at the price tag he now warrants. He missed all of camp with a knee issue.

So now that they probably feel he's a $15-20m AAV player, that changes the picture for Chris a ton even on a 'discount'.

I love Sneed, would love to keep him.

But they've also been able to draft CB's like gangbusters, and the DT spot is thin.

Here's the thing on that though. Sneed has been here all four years. McDuffie came out a stud.

Yes I love Dave Merritt, but maybe these are just really good players and we need to keep them? Sneed's skill set and ability to press anyone and everyone is unique. The versatility is special.

I think Watson and Williams are #3 corners at the very best.

Blows my mind CJ has kept these chodes as agents after how badly they bungled things last season.

If you have to pick it's Sneed. Next game Chris plays after Sunday he'll be 30. Not smart to pay a 30 year old the house unless that guy is Mahomes.

Spags also blitzes a lot on 3rd down relying on his corners to be lock down. Chris is really good but we wouldn't be bad without him, especially if we can keep Tranquill.

If he leaves I'm going after Sheldon Rankins and a draft pick. Rankins was extremely affordable and played well this year.

Yep, love Chris but let him walk and get younger and cheaper. Keep the Championship ship moving forward.

I wouldn't necessarily try to 'replace' Chris at DT. Might be better to go with a stouter run defense look inside, help keep your linebackers clean. Keep adding the versatile types like Omenihu who can beat guards on passing downs.

I mean I'd definitely take another great pass rushing 3T if it can be found, but hard to imagine you are getting that in 2024 at least.

Weird how the majority on here want to let Chris Jones walk

This Super Bowl run has really impacted my thoughts on how this team should move forward next season. Before the playoffs I was ready for a significant revamp that would see Chris Jones walk, and those resources be spend on upgrading the offense in free agency, and using the draft to address DT position. Now I'm not so sure.

At this point if you can figure something out with Jones and tag Sneed, by all means do it. I know Chris is 30, but he isn't 32. Dude has plenty left. With the way this team has played in the playoffs why wouldn't you bring back the studs on this defense and use the draft to replenish at LB, instead of trying to fill a huge hole created by a the Ohminihue (SP?) injury and a Jones departure. Yeah I'd love to keep Gay and Drew at LB, but we can find their replacements in the 3rd and 4th rounds of the draft. DT is a different story.

I think the WR picture is different today than it was during the season too. Still plenty of work to be done for use, but we know what we have in Rice, and now its about finding the right compliment to him. Frankly I don't think the answer is spending a bunch of FA money on a WR. Now I'd love to get Mike Evans on the opposite side of Rice, but if that's not possible, screw it, give me a couple cheaper vets and I'm going to draft another WR with one of my first two draft picks.

I think the real puzzle is at LT. Smith's return is a key reason we are playing in another Super Bowl. Frankly, this is where Veach has to work his magic again. Not sure you can count on Smith making it for an entire season, and you can't walk into next year with Morris penciled in at LT either. You figure out LT, and I think this team is well on its way.

As for Jones, if you can't get a deal done, then I think this is where you have to spend free agent money. I just don't think you can address that spot in the draft and feel like you are ready to make a Super Bowl run. Hell, depending on what you do at WR and LT in free agency, if you could keep Jones and draft a DT hign in the draft, you might be getting the best of both worlds.

Hell the longer I type, the more convinced I am that keeping Jones and Sneed is the only way to go. If you let Jones walk you are just going to turn around and spend basically the same money on the position. Things would be different if Charles didn't get hurt.

I don't think anyone wants him to walk. But there's a price point that becomes too rich, and realistically, other teams will offer it. Chicago or Houston come to mind.

So he needs to settle for less to stay IMO. Overpaying on third contracts is the quickest way to erode your depth.

Do those teams offer Quinten Williams money or Aaron Donald money? If it’s Williams, I think he might come back to KC. If it’s Donald money, you move on.

With Spags tendancy to use big stout DE's inside on rush downs it makes more sense to look for those builds and have pluggers in for run downs.

It isn't that most WANT him to walk.

It's that most don't see a way to bring him back at $30M/AAV that doesn't cripple other parts of the roster.

Yep. Unless there is a discount on a one two year deal...But realistically, he is going to want a 4+ year deal paid like a tp 2-3 tackle. That probably is a bad bet for someone who will be 30 next season. Nothing againsst him and he may get that money but on a team struggling to keep other players it is tough to do.

Yeah, you have a chance with a dee that can stop the run. You have no hope if teams are able to run on you at will. Guess spags will need to blitz more and get pressure that way.

I think we've seen the last of Chris Jones in a Chiefs uniform on Sunday.

Just too much money with other needs coming both now and next year.

I don't think anyone knows when Chris Jones will slow down, might not be this year but if you're signing him to a deal around 3-4 years it's likely by year 3 or 4 he's making around $35-40 million on a backloaded deal and is nowhere near that level of player at that point. I just don't think it's wise to be sinking $30 million a year on a 30 year-old player based on past performance. You won't completely replace him but between the draft and FA I think you can get 75% of his impact split between multiple players and you decrease your risk from sinking so much money into a single player who is more likely to get injured at his age.

I also don't think anything has changed in the postseason in regard to WR play. The only difference is they pared down the rotation at WR, aside from Rice the WR room still needs a significant infusion of talent. I don't think anybody is suggesting we necessarily go out and spend $18-20 million a year on someone like Evans or Higgins, but several (including myself) are suggesting we sign someone like Mooney or Hollywood Brown which will likely take somewhere in the range of $10-15 million a year. Need to draft 1-2 as well. Not sure how you are able to afford a WR at that price range if you're extending both Sneed and Jones in addition to maybe signing Smith again at LT and other depth pieces that will be needed.

It's the same thing as the Hill situation. I'd love to have him but not what he's asking for. Hell, I've got a signed Chris Jones jersey. I'd be ecstatic if he retired as a Chief but you can't pay everyone top dollar and field a competitive team. It is what it is.

The question you should ask is this: would the Chiefs Super Bowl teams from 2019 and 2022 win 2 straight road games in Buffalo and Baltimore?

Winning on the road in the playoffs has always been about defense. From the Steelers, Patriots, Bucs with Tom to this years Chiefs.

Gun to my head I try my best to fill the cap keeping Chris and Sneed (Chris will decide a lot of that too) while using the draft to get more offensive weapons.

LT will be the key though. That's tough.

Could you do it? Sure. But it's going to severely hinder your team moving forward.

You would need to restructure Mahomes at the highest amount and then cut MVS and Omenihu. That puts you at $77 million in cap space. You have to figure that Jones' cap hit is going to be close to $30 million. You might be able to lower it to something like $25 million in the first year but that only makes the ones later larger. Even if you franchise tag Sneed, that's still $18 million.

That gives us 43 players under contract. 48 if you bring back all of the ERFA players. That's around $25 million to fill out your roster.

Devil's advocate - 2019 and 2022 teams played well enough in the RS to not have to go on the road while also securing the BYE.

So maybe next year that road warrior run isn't necessary to begin with if the offense doesn't **** around all year.

The key is gonna be for Pat to play the regular season like he's played this postseason or better and for the WR's to hang on to the football.

Keep building the defense and draft offense.

They more than likely aren't cutting Moore and Toney has guaranteed money. That puts your WR group next year as:

Rashee Rice
MVS
Justin Watson
Skyy Moore
Kadarius Toney
Justyn Ross
Shi Smith

If MVS is a cap casualty, which is no guarantee, then you're more than likely adding 2 guys max to that room. I highly doubt that one of those guys is going to be a high dollar FA. You're maybe looking at a mid level FA and a draft pick.

The WR room needs to go back to 5 like in past years. The offense started playing better late in the season when WRBC went by the way side. That needs to happen in September

Yeah I think the defense probably looks a lot like last years if we lose Chris. We gave up more than 27 points 5X including the SB.

Basically you have an above average debatable 10 top defense but with a far better offense that can score 30+ if it needs to.

Feels like the happy medium we should shoot for here is a balanced team with with slightly more to the offense. So basically the 2022 team.

I don't have any faith that Mooney or Brown are going to get the targets it will take to justify their contract. At best whatever WR holds down than spot is going to get less than 75 targets, so you better spending accordingly.

Code for: We're keeping LJS.

No reason to go all-out in the regular season, especially with what should be one of the toughest schedules in the league (again). As I noted prior to this season, win enough to get in and I like our chances. The truth is we could play lights out all season long and STILL not get the #1 due to schedule, luck, etc. Treat it like the NBA regular season and then win a Chip. Rinse. Repeat.

Hollywood Browns spotrac projection is 14 mill per.

I also think the Tranquil gameplan will pay off again with other players. Hey, come sign with KC and get a ring!

See Red and think Super Bowl(s).

Man I hope you are wrong. Would be nice to bring in another solid #2

I'm thinking we'll sign a guy like Curtis Samuel and spend a high pick on WR. Samuel isn't a burner but he's sure handed and has been healthy the past year. I think you can pair him with Rice and draft a speed WR.

Bringing in a high dollar, free agent receiver that demands the ball, is not the way
Pat seems to like the youngers, so he can build

Why at best? MVS had 81 targets last year, Juju had 101, Kelce 152. Kelce will likely see his usage continue to go down towards 100-120 targets IMO, Rice should be good for 100-120, little reason to expect our WR2 to not be capable of 80-90 targets.

Overall, I’ll still be rooting for the Chiefs either way. Based on my past experiences, I tend to root for them. Unless I’m bitching about them; speaking of that, god damn them for not resigning both guys! Damn it Varch!

No

MVS is 12 mil. Not 10
Reid is 10.75. Not 7

22.75 mil

We are at 24 mil now which I’m sure will drop

Dead money

MVS 2 mil
Reid 3.5

Mahomes will restructure. He said he would when he redid it last year

Thuney and Kelce might extend they might redo Taylor’s contract

There is really no one else

And we are keeping CO

Maybe a receiver that demands making it to the SB then?

Tyreek definitely coming back after his contract is up. He said it once he got traded that he will retire a chief. Sure looks like it

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“If the dolphins ain’t playing.. the next team I’m going for is the CHIEFS and that’s always” <a href="https://twitter.com/cheetah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cheetah</a> ������❤️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChiefsKingdom?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChiefsKingdom</a> <a href="https://t.co/4FnyP9vAtR">pic.twitter.com/4FnyP9vAtR</a></p>&mdash; EB���� (@EbonyLatasha_) <a href="https://twitter.com/EbonyLatasha_/status/1756111424785387587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 10, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The polarizing question I keep going back to in my thoughts is "Who would I rather have the next 3 seasons?"

We're all undeniably strong fans of both players.

This is most probably the last contract for both players and would certainly be in KC.

I've seen DTs perform well into their age 33-34 seasons with regularity so I don't worry about Chris Jones just turning 30 in July in comparison to Sneed turning 27 a month ago.

So, which is a better keep in terms of dominance, pass coverage or pass rush?

Which is easier to most closely replace?

And then is Jones a bigger impact at 12M AAV over Sneed?

My thoughts routinely bring me to re-signing Jones but I just don't FEEL like that is the direction KC will go, oddly enough.

Hard to say what they do, but I hope they can both be retained.

Veach’s MO is to have a new “weakness” every year. It actually brilliant. We have a position group that is in need of being completely overhauled every year, and he does it masterfully. At the same time, all the teams trying to catch us really have no idea what type of team to build in response, and once they do, we kind of have a counter punch right of the bat because we never stay stressing the same thing for long.

They think our Oline is weak and stock up on pass rushers? Cool, we neutralize that in one offseason. Spending on DBs to limit our explosives? Now we don’t have a deep threat with tons of targets. Try to boat race us by loading up on offense when we show signs of slowing down? Okay, we just killed you with the run game and a top ranked defense you never saw coming. This shit ain’t checkers, it’s chess.

Not sure how that will affect two current strengths but do with that information what you will.


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This should help

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Been hoping so all along.

Yeah, he'll restructure to convert some of it into bonus money, but Tom Brady was on bargain contracts (way under market value) most of his career, Mahomes after the raise he just got a few months ago is not in a comparable situation. The team friendly deal narrative didn't end up a reality.

I wouldn't welcome him back. He's going to be too old by then.

Has anyone ever traded for a center before? If you get something of value I'd even consider trading Creed Humphrey in the offseason. There is no reason for us to pay a premium for center and Creed is one of the best centers in football. Under no circumstances should we sign anyone to play center above market average. We don't do the tush push. We are always in the top 10 or top 5 in passing percentage. It's just a luxury to have him at this point.

Doing that with Mahomes contract moves money back that we will have to pay him. Not sure how that will work. I'm sure they have a plan though

I dunno about Hill getting too old, even old he's faster than everyone.



But uh, you ever date a really intense partner and it is consuming and then you break up and suddenly you're like you know life sure is a lot easier without that person around?

And you're like yeah I think I'm good on getting back together and ruining the peace and quiet. A little of that with Tyreek. I don't need puff pieces about he wants to be a porn star or whatever

Every other team seems to be finding ways to cheat the cap on their QB deals. Maybe KC is going to start playing some of the games the other teams seem to be playing.

Mahomes' contract structure isn't some big secret. They specifically designed it to kick money down the line when they need to. They will do it again. They can free up as much as 28.7m by converting the roster bonus to a signing bonus. They can free up to another 5.9m if they want to **** with restructuring salary into a signing bonus.

If they cut MVS and Omenihu, they are already at 43m in space cand can get up to over 70m. So, the Chiefs CAN do what they want it's just an IF they really want to dump it all in. I don't think you do that unless you win it this year and specifically go for a 3-peat.

Can they even cut Omenihu? I thought teams couldn’t cut injured players or something like that.

Do they want to cut him? Good young player at $10,970,000 for next season. Why cut him? (Assuming he recovers from injury, which he should.)

Yes. The only reason teams wouldn't is if a contract is guaranteed for injury. In that case, it makes no sense.

Because he tore his ACL and likely won't be available until the last month of the season, and won't be anywhere near 100% for the entirety of the season.

I mean, feel free to argue it all day long that we should keep him but I'm 100% on the other side of that fence and not changing my position on it. If he is usable come playoff time, sign him to a short deal then. Otherwise, just use the 7.2m to get someone who can help the entire season.

The only way I'd say keep him is if there is an injury guarantee I don't know about.

We should extend him. Drop his number next year when he's not playing and add a year or 2 to his time in KC.

This. I saw enough of him to want him back. The injury may be a way for them to sweeten the deal enough to get him to extend a couple more years at a reasonable price without breaking the bank.

That's the course I'd go.

Does salary have to be converted? Or could Mahomes theoretically say just knock my base salaries for the next few years down to league minimum, and save that number against the cap, while his roster bonuses get rolled into signing bonuses?

I hope that makes sense as to what I am trying to ask.

It's definitely one way to approach it. Another option could be to ... extend him and bump money down the road.

You'd get a good young player for a few more years at a potentially large discount (queue that one guy who lost his shit when they signed him to this deal flipping his shit again) while also getting a potential nice savings next year.

Say they turn his 1/$10.5M cap hit into a new deal. Add two years to the deal and turn his $6.7M base into a $1.1M base and drop the 330k game bonus while giving him a $9M signing bonus over the course of those 3 years. He gets more cash in his recovery year, the Chiefs get him late in the season as a reinforcement for the playoff push for just $3M more, and you have him presumably at a pretty good price for his age 28 and 29 season as a core defender.

The risk, I guess, would be that he's not available in 2024 at all. Or that he doesn't come back well in 25 and 26.

Payoffs seem pretty nice, though. Is it worth a $3M gamble against the 24 cap? Is it worth more?

I can see a route where, if they're confident in his recovery and his availability next year, KC decides to avoid a complete dead cap situation and save themselves a little in 24 (about $3M I guess, with the structure I'm discussing) to have him available at the end of the year and potentially at another discount in 25 and 26.

Risk is that you end up throwing an extra $3M against the 24 cap and $6M against future caps down the drain if he doesn't come back right.

Salary doesn't have to be converted. They can only touch the roster bonus component if they want. That said, they could take his salary down from 8.6m to vet minimum and convert the difference to signing bonus. That's where I got the "up to 5.9m" part from (4/5ths of 7.5m approx). The roster bonus can clear 4/5ths of 35.9m this year. It's kind of however they want to do it, really.

And re: Mahomes restructuring...

Any year KC can avoid a big restructure of his deal is a good one because it gives them future flexibility.

But the current deal is kind of structured in a way that if they start restructuring, they can continue to avoid the painful one-year cap hit by continuing to restructure and push money forward over five years until he hits a season where his base salary is low enough the restructure bonuses are no longer an issue.

The next 4 seasons are the "Big" hits in Mahomes' current deal. KC could easily keep moving big portions of his roster bonus forward every year and pay off the CC in 2028, when his cap hit is currently scheduled to drop below $30M.

If you look at the contract, it's pretty clear they were building in 2028 as an out.

2024 restructure: $35M, pushing $7M in each year to 25, 26, 27, 28
New 24 cap hit: $29m
New 25 cap hit: $68M
2025 Restructure: $35M, pushing $7M in each year to 26, 27, 28, 29
New 25 CAP HIT: $40m
New 26 cap hit: $77M
2026 restructure: $40M, pushing $8M in each year to 27, 28, 29, 30
New 26 cap hit: $42M
New 27 cap hit: $82M
2027 restructure: $40M, pushing $8M in each year to 28, 29, 30, 31
New 27 cap hit: $47M

Restructures in 28 due: $23M
Restrucutres in 29 due: $23M
Restructures in 30 due: $16M
Restructures in 31 due: $8M

And that's the plateau where you probably do his final contract. He'll be 33. You've got some money pushed forward in restructures you still have to pay off.

But you have the flexibility to design the last contact in a similar way, a nice 7-or-8-or-10 year long deal that lets you continue to flexibly push money forward as needed.

Thanks. I knew the 4/5ths part on the roster bonus. Can the 8.6 down to vet minimum "disappear"? Or does it have to be converted to signing bonus as well?

I'm in on the bargain extension for Omenihu. It would be a great deal for the team moving forward.

Theoretically, sure. Unlikely though.

I'd be fine with that but then it becomes an issue of guaranteed money and structuring. I think you then need to use an option bonus for 2025 because you don't want to add signing bonus to this season.

Trigger the option in 2025 over, say, a 3-year extension while re-writing 2024 to vet minimum and performance escalators would be most ideal. You can still then free up 5-ish million.

No. They’re thinking he ll be ready the first game busynr miss the first 4 games

He good.

You have an idea how much the money we pushed forward earlier this year impacts the cap this off season? I know before that happened we were pretty cherry. I haven't seen anything that addressed it after the money was moved around...

3-Peat!!!

I mean, 1/5 of it hits the 24 cap instead of this year's cap. Spotrac does a pretty good job tracking prorated bonuses (they're all in one bucket, though. It doesn't break them out.)

I'd agree. But he has got to be making bank on endorsements. Maybe he is willing to drop his contract back a bit to help with his chase at history. That would be a place he could cut it back.

Why wouldn't we just franchise tag Sneed and then let him walk when hes 28.5 years old? Seems like an obvious play to me but maybe Im missing something. With Watson, McDuffie and Wiliams in the wings

Lately, we have hit big in the draft, especially the 2022 draft - then the 2021 draft. Wish Mahomes could take a discount or work something out - I know he is the greatest quarterback ever....

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">L’ Jarius Sneed got welcomed home like a true champ! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Chiefs</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChiefsKingdom?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChiefsKingdom</a> <a href="https://t.co/JA144WkS1i">pic.twitter.com/JA144WkS1i</a></p>&mdash; Dante&#39; Jones (@Dantej21) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dantej21/status/1757232378110493172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Sneed's neighborhood doing work to try to make him not want to leave. They gave him a big send off too.

I’m sure Patrick will do what he can to help within reason.

At the same time, he undoubtedly feels a responsibility to help his peers get paid their worth so he’s never going to take a huge discount.

I believe at the postgame presser he said he was willing to restructure and try to create more room for next season.

Why are his peers other QBs on other teams? If the Lamars and the Burrows get paid more, it just means their teammates get paid less. With the cap, it is a zero sum game.

And it seems odd to be worrying about whether those guys are making 35 mil a year or 50 mil year, no?