Goddamn I hate drama queens.

It’s never worked before for other teams with elite qbs.

They can’t do it alone

The Chiefs have Mahomes/Kelce/Reid, the best O-line Mahomes has ever had, I’d argue the most complete WR room he’s ever had, and talented players all over the defense with or without Jones….

“Punchers chance” is absurd….

LMAO No they didn't. They were perfectly content to sign Hill until the Adams deal reset the market and they ended up too far apart to compromise.

Jones' production in a non-contract year is not irreplaceable. Pressure on the QB will have to be generated in other ways, but this isn't season-ruining.

This is another reason that Frank Clark contract was the stupidest decision in Veach's time here. Imagine if we didn't have $7.5mil being used up in cap space this year for a player that's on the Broncos. We could have used that to split the difference on whatever Chris is asking or if not that, used it on a player that can offset him potentially not being with the team during his hold out.

I hope I’m wrong, but let’s not expect too much for trade comp if/when that happens.

He’s a DT approaching 30 and wants big (ridiculous) money. Don’t expect a ton in return for that.

Not at all. Jones can still sign for what Veach is offering and all will be good. It's only over if Jones refuses to budge on his demands.

What if Jones was signed long term and suffered a season ending injury? They would still have to overcome that.

Of course they are. Chris Jones was a top-3 defensive player in the league last year. He made everyone else on that DL better than they’d almost certainly be in isolation. He absolutely was crucial in a number of games and a number of situations for us.

To say no one guy is worth that much to a team? Of course they can be. We won a SB by the slimmest of margins. We got the 1 seed via the slimmest of margins. He anchored our defense.

I’m not saying there’s no world where we win a SB without Chris Jones this year, but our odds go down meaningfully. We weren’t that far ahead of the pack that we can afford to lose our best defensive player without the ability to suitably replace him and expect to be the same.

I highly doubt that makes a difference regarding Jones' contract. What it most likely revolves around is guaranteed money and outs in the contract. If I'm Veach I have a huge contract on paper with outs in years 3-5 (or whatever the length would be). If I am Jones, I know this and want a ton guaranteed or a contract that makes him harder to cut as he ages. The Clark money is irrelevant to Jones' contract this year.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Browns have been ahead of the curve on this for years.</p>&mdash; Marcus Whitman (@TFG_Football) <a href="https://twitter.com/TFG_Football/status/1693766280459735287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Browns are clearing space to alter Garretts number each year, it's actually brilliant.

That's additional money that can be used to sweeten up that guarantee...

Isn't that what Mahomes deal was supposed to help us do?

I doubt a one time $7.5 million is all that separates them. I would bet it's structure as much if not more than straight numbers.