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The Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and defensive star Chris Jones have agreed to the framework of a five-year contract that includes $95m guaranteed and keeps the All-Pro defensive tackle off the free-agent market, sources told the Associated Press.
The money that is guaranteed is expected to come over the first three years with another two years that are not guaranteed. The deal makes Jones the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history.
Meanwhile, the New England Patriots look like they will move on from their former first-round pick at quarterback, Mac Jones. ESPN reports New England will trade him to his hometown team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, in return for a sixth-round pick when the new league year starts on Wednesday. New England have the third overall pick in this year’s draft and will almost certainly take a quarterback, most likely LSU’s Jayden Daniels or North Carolina’s Drake Maye.
The Patriots selected Jones with the 15th pick of the 2021 draft, and he was given the intimidating task of becoming Tom Brady’s long-term successor. He made the Pro Bowl and the playoffs in his first season but his play has declined since, and he flamed out spectacularly in 2023 and was eventually replaced by Bailey Zappe. He has 46 TD passes and 36 INTs in three NFL seasons. Jones will vie with 30-year-old CJ Beathard for Jacksonville’s backup spot, behind starter Trevor Lawrence. Jones will count $4.96m against the team’s salary cap in the final year of his rookie contract. Beathard is scheduled to count $2.4m in the final year of his deal. The Jaguars are unlikely to keep both on their 53-man roster to start the season.
Chris Jones, who turns 30 in July, becomes one of the highest-paid defensive players in the NFL, falling just behind the $34m average annual salary paid by the San Francisco 49ers to edge-rusher Nick Bosa. The deal eclipses the $31.6m average of Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who had long represented the financial benchmark for a defensive player.
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Jones’s agents, Michael and Jason Katz, tweeted their congratulations in a post on X, to “the highest-paid defensive tackle in NFL history.”
Jones tweeted moments later: “KC ….5 more years of greatness! 3x”
Jones made it clear after the Chiefs beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl last month, that he was eager to chase a three-peat. But he first needed to reach an agreement to remain in Kansas City, which had proven difficult over the past two offseasons.
Jones and the Chiefs were at such an impasse entering the final year of his previous contract that he skipped the entire offseason program, including a mandatory minicamp and training camp, and Week 1 of the regular season. Jones piled up nearly $4m in fines before agreeing to an incentive-laden one-year deal that got him back on the field this past season.
Jones responded by starting every game the rest of the way, including a meaningless regular-season finale against the Chargers, when he got the last sack he needed to trigger a $1.25m bonus in his contract.
Jones had another half-sack in a wildcard win over Miami in one of the coldest games in NFL history, then helped Kansas City win road games over Buffalo and Baltimore to return to the Super Bowl. In that game, the Chiefs fell behind early before rallying to force overtime, then winning the game on Patrick Mahomes’ touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman.
The Chiefs have been aggressive in trying to keep the core of the league’s second-ranked defense together next season.
Earlier in the week, the Chiefs used the franchise tag on L’Jarius Sneed, giving them the option of keeping one of the best cover cornerbacks expected to hit free agency on a $19.8m contract next season. The Chiefs also could sign him to a long-term deal or trade him, which not only would provide some draft capital but also some salary cap relief.
Shortly after tagging Sneed, the Chiefs signed pending free-agent linebacker Drue Tranquill to a $19m, three-year deal that included a $4.5m signing bonus and $12.5m guaranteed. Tranquill signed a one-year deal with Kansas City relatively late in free agency last year, but he emerged as one of the unsung heroes of coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s defense.
There is nothing unsung about Jones, though. The fearsome defensive tackle has been a game-wrecker almost since the moment Kansas City drafted him in the second round out of Mississippi State in 2016. Jones moved into the starting lineup by the sixth game of his rookie season, earned second-team All-Pro honors while piling up 15 1/2 sacks in 2018, and then began a run of five straight Pro Bowls the following year.
He was voted a first-team All-Pro for the second straight season this past year. And while it is unclear whether that drove up his price, it almost certainly made keeping him in Kansas City a priority for the Chiefs with the start of free agency on Wednesday.
