No, it's not the same as creating space to roll it over to make the actual hit less, I don't think the Chiefs have really exploited that to much to be honest.

The Browns aren't 'ahead of the curve' nor is this a novel thought.

It's something the Saints have been doing for a decade+ and yeah, you can keep on pushing, but the Saints have had nasty cap sheets for a long time and sooner or later you do run out of rope.

Moreover, you lose leverage with the player. Suddenly they're sitting on a $50 million cap charge one year and you say "Hey, can we get you to reduce that to $15 million" and they say "Oh sure - if you add 2 years at $20 million/season on the back of it..."

It's okay to do here and there. It's NOT a good operating philosophy, IMO. It narrows your path to contention and puts a TON of pressure on the front office to continue to add quality players through the draft.

yes.

And they use it as needed.

That's why I say this has nothing to do with Hill. It has nothing to do with Clark. The Chiefs absolutely COULD make a Jones deal work - probably even at $30 million.

They don't want to because it's simply not smart.

They've placed a value on him, Jones isn't happy with that valuation, and he's overplaying his hand, IMO.

Ehh. He’d quite easily get top 15 pick in the draft value.

Which is roughly what Tyreek fetched. At roughly the same age, and at a better aging position

Yeah I wish we had some leaks as to what was being offered and what was being demanded.

I do think that if the Chiefs were making a substantial effort to give him a good number and it was rebuffed, they would have leaked what they were offering. Like they did with the OBJ negotiation.

The Saints problem is they refuse to blow it up even when it's obvious their window closed. Had they just ate it for a year when Brees retired they could have fixed the problem but they refuse.

As I said earlier I'd rather have a young and elite duo of Creed and Smith protecting Mahomes than maybe 2 years of elite D-line play from Jones. I think they're move valuable to the team's overall success.

Creed and Trey together likely won't sniff what Jones is asking for.

We also went through the entire playoff run with our QB on one leg which without a doubt made every game more difficult.

We lost most of our WR core in the AFCCG on top of it.

So yea, if everything goes to shit we have to scramble to win a game. But lets not act like we struggled just to be struggling.

WR room SHOULD be deeper this year. OL should be better this year. We may have to score a few more points but we SHOULD be able to.

Part of the problem with blowing it up in their situation is that it will likely be a 2 year process to get back to a decent cap situation, and with the NFC South being as weak as it is, they can reasonably make the playoffs. Hard to blow it up when your division is easily the weakest in the league and a ticket to the playoffs is easy.

I think they leaked that stuff with the Brown Jr situation because, while they were willing to keep him, they knew his demands were ridiculous and they were more than willing to let him walk. He did and the league humbled him as KC knew they would. Jones is different as I truthfully believe they want to keep him at the right price. Leaking numbers and demands only creates more bad blood and lessens the chance at a deal more.

I agree that if we knew the numbers it would be easier to know for sure.

The hard thing to see is what Jones thinks he's doing on his end.

KC won't go to the dollar amount he wants? OK. Your options are:

1) Go kick ass while clearing $20M in cash in a contract year (with a better supporting cast around you) and then cash in next season with a team that WILL give you what you want (either on a tag and trade or a straight FA walk, because the team can't REALLY afford to keep you on the tag).
2) Hold out of preseason, costing yourself about $2M, then go kick ass in a contract year after getting into shape. Probably costs you a little bit in what you get if your numbers are down, but not a LOT.
3) HAve a significant, protracted holdout. Come into the season mid-year, have to play your way into shape, and believe that you can make enough happen in the postseason to get the big deal you're seeking.
4) Sit out the whole year and not have your year of service time recognized. Get traded next year and hope some team is willing to give you the deal you want when you'll have 18 months between games.

How he is trending towards (3) is wild to me.

They protect the most important player on the team, genius.

Are you secretly Jim Irsay?

Is it worth it to keep kicking that can over and over to sneak into the playoffs and get wrecked?

And they were also still doing that when Tampa was a legit contender with Brady, it just makes very little sense.

I think the chance of a long-term contract is over, but what does either side do *this* year? If Jones holds out he costs himself serious money. Do the Chiefs want a disgruntled player? Is there a trade market given his contract demands?