Chris Jones mixed an honest reflection into his animated return to the Chiefs
There was a moment during the start of Chiefs practice Wednesday when Travis Kelce launched himself into Chris Jones, a playful substitute for a handshake greeting. In response, Jones smiled and then wrapped his arms around Kelce for a bear hug that ever-so-slightly lifted Kelce’s feet off the ground, like an interaction between a couple of long-lost friends.
At last, Jones is back where he wants to be, though not exactly for the reason he had hoped to be here. Frankly, a one-year, get-him-in-the-building contract is not the way the Chiefs wanted him back, either. That’s been lost in the conversation.
Anyway, before his first practice of the season, which comes 56 days after his quarterback’s first practice of the season, Jones walked into the media room. The star defensive tackle last stepped into this room back in January, some eight months ago, and subsequently provided the particulars of the Chiefs’ defense, of the Jaguars’ offense and of playoff football.
Hey, same opponent this Sunday. But we didn’t get Chris Jones the playoff football player at the lectern. Nor Chris Jones the analyst.
We got Chris Jones the showman. He was gregarious, animated, at times even funny, as though he never left.
But here’s what he was clearly not: full of blunt, straightforward information.
He did talk, happy to take questions, even with the same smile he offered Kelce. But if you’re trying to assess the strategy for the holdout, or the reason for the return that followed, or the expectations for what will still follow next offseason, well, you’ll have to read between the lines. Or, ahem, between the jokes. Jones ducked many of the most serious questions — with “I don’t know” and “we’ll see” — and provided some answers that entailed opposite messaging in back-to-back sentences.
When I asked him if it was important to become the highest-paid player at his position, for example, he said, “Not at all,” and then immediately followed with, “That’s always the goal.”
But through an eight-minute session full of quips, there was one consistent thread from which he never strayed:
Jones seems intent on convincing everyone — you, me and maybe even himself — that he is happy with this conclusion. “Super pleased,” he said once. “Grateful,” he said in another reply.
Look, Jones did not win his holdout, no matter how you dissect it. You’ve probably been told that a hundred times by a hundred different people.
And in his most honest reply, it seemed like Jones might have been on the verge of acknowledging that, no, the holdout did not conclude as he had envisioned. It came after I asked him, given that he is equipped with a lot more information now than he had six weeks ago, if he would go through the entire process the exact same way.
How he started the answer: “I’d probably change some things. You know, when you have a lot of new guys, it’s kind of tough to be away — especially in the D-line room, building that chemistry is important to be successful as a group. But you know, those are decisions you have to live with.”
And then how he finished the answer: “I wouldn’t probably change it. But I’m grateful how it turned out. I’m thankful for the Hunt family and Brett Veach and Coach (Andy) Reid working with my team closely to ensure that we’re able to come up to terms with something that we can both agree on.”
You’re left to guess which half of the answer illuminates his true feelings, but I’ll go ahead and take that guess. It was like a moment of honest reflection about the past two months before he caught himself and reverted back to the method of persuasion. Which is fine. Whatever helps.
The overwhelmingly likelihood is the holdout is going to cost Jones at least some money and potentially a lot of money. To be frank, and I recognize I differ from a lot of others here, I still actually don’t blame him for trying, even as the league’s most recent collective-bargaining agreement desensitizes holdouts by slapping players with ongoing fines. The only cards in his hand were to put the fear of God into the Chiefs that they might actually have to play without him. Sometimes you throw chips in the pot and they don’t come back your way.
A training camp holdout didn’t do it. An ongoing holdout during the preseason didn’t do it. Sitting in a suite inside Arrowhead Stadium was a final shot across the bow that more predictably missed the intended target.
Leverage point after leverage point, the Chiefs didn’t blink, so back came Jones, with a few extra hard-to-reach incentives to eclipse his old deal.
If there is any regret, it ought to sit with the outcome more than the attempt — though I might’ve advised differently on the length of the attempt stretching through a game check.
With some teams, it all might have worked. The Chiefs were never going to be that team — not when they employ the world’s best quarterback and just one year ago all but shrugged their shoulders when losing one of the best wide receivers in all of football.
Still worth a try? Sure. (The Chiefs did offer a pretty pricey deal, after all.)
But worth it financially in the end? No, this could not have possibly been the objective. Jones racked up about $3.8 million in fines between unrealized workout bonuses, training camp absences and a lost game check. He could recoup about $2 million of that total if he plays 50% of this season’s snaps, but many of the remaining incentives make it difficult to earn something that was previously coming to him for free.
Well, not worth it yet, at least. See, in the conversation about winners and losers of the process, there’s a word missing from the conclusion:
Yet.
If Jones performs this season the way he performed last season, he could still earn the payday he wants in free agency. It only takes one team to pay, and there are oh-so-many with more flexibility under the cap than the team for which he currently plays. He left upwards of $55 million guaranteed on the table for the next two years, which seems like a good deal for the player. But he also left on the table the potential to hit the market at 30 years old. That’s the calculated risk he’s taking. It is not a small one.
But it’s a situation, therefore, that leaves two sides on the opposite ends of months-long conversation — which ended with neither of them completely satisfied — now seeking identical outcomes:
The best of Chris Jones.
Which should leave any worries about ongoing animosity as overblown. The best in the marriage provides the best outcome.
For the Chiefs in 2023.
And for Jones beyond it.
This story was originally published September 14, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Chris Jones mixed an honest reflection into his animated return to the Chiefs."