All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones’s contract holdout officially ended when he struck a revised one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs on September 11, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport.
Though the details of the contract have yet to be revealed, fans took to Twitter — which was recently rebranded to “X” — to react to the news.
“So Chris and his agents finally realized they had basically no leverage and just caved? Chris has the worst agents in the league by a mile,” one user wrote. “They just cost him millions in fines and he didn’t get a new deal, just a restructure with incentives. Just plain stupid.”
“Unless that one year has a ton of money this negotiation was a massive failure for Jones,” another user wrote.
“Chiefs look weak and dumb both for allowing this to happen. Can’t make a long-term deal but offset that by losing a home game first,” another user wrote.
Brett Veach Reacts to Chris Jones Deal
Chiefs general manager released a statement following the news of Kansas City and Jones agreeing to a revised deal.
“Chris is an elite player in this league, and over the last seven years, he’s really developed into a leader on our team,” Veach wrote, via Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest. “He’s been instrumental to our success and Super Bowl championship runs and it was a priority for us to keep him in a Chiefs uniform. I’d like to thank Chris and his representation, Michael and Jason Katz, for their desire and patience to get this done. Through this process two things were obvious, Chris wanted to be a Chief, and the Katz brothers worked diligently on his behalf.”
The Brett Veach statement on Chris Jones doesn’t shed any light on the form of the one-year contract and what this means for the future.
Jones had been holding out since mandatory minicamp in June. He incurred over $2 million in fines during his holdout.
The Chiefs welcome Jones back with open arms after a Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions on banner night at Arrowhead Stadium. Jones’s first crack at playing during the regular season will come in Week 2 when the defending Super Bowl champions travel to face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, September 17.
The chance does exist that Jones could have a full workload in Week 2. But it’s more likely that he is on a limited snap count as he tries to return to full football shape.
Chiefs D Fared Well in Week 1 vs. Lions
Despite no Chris Jones in the lineup, Kansas City’s defense, specifically the front seven, played well during the regular season opener.
Against the Lions, the Chiefs defense surrendered just 14 points, with one score coming in the air and the other on the ground. The unit managed to sack Jared Goff just once — courtesy of defensive end Mike Danna — but allowed just 253 yards through the air and 3.5 yards per carry on the ground.
Matt Dickerson (41), Derrick Nnadi (39), and Tershawn Wharton (27) led the defensive tackles in snaps in Week 1.
Despite an overall strong performance by the defense, Chiefs third-year linebacker Nick Bolton isn’t happy due to the team losing the game.
“We lost the football game, and I think that’s where you measure yourself at – especially in this league,” Bolton said during his postgame press conference. “Games are won in inches and in a couple situations down the stretch, and we didn’t execute well enough. You can say that we gave up 14 points and that’s a good start and all that, but ultimately we lost the football game. Our goal was to come out of here 1-0 this week, and it didn’t happen. Back to the drawing board, the guys will be better and ready to go for Jacksonville.”
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Fans Erupt Over Chiefs DT Chris Jones’ Major News: ‘Just Plain Stupid’