What? It would be tougher, but we won a SB with Niemann, Sorenson, Hitchens and Raglund... I could go further with that defense as well.

Day 5 of camp. First day of pads.

Chris Jones running fine total (50k * 5 days) = $250,000

quarter million dollars and counting

what a ****ing waste of money

Well you have to ask, is $25MM-$26MM per year not "getting paid"?

Yea that's hyperbole on O's part. Jones is definitely an impact player but he isn't the entire lynch pin to us being a SB contender or not.

With Chris Jones in the middle of the defense.

Losing an all pro Defensive player of the year candidate is gonna make you a worse team. I don't know how this is really a thing we're discussing.

Mahomes, Kelce and Jones are the 3 guys we need to be going full tilt when it comes January.

This isn't an argument anyone is making though, so let's avoid the false equivalency.

There is a massive difference between saying we can't compete without Chris Jones and saying that we can still compete without him on the roster and that he isn't as important as Mahomes.

Nobody here thinks that we are the same team or better without Chris Jones.

However, he is not the lynchpin of the team. That would be Pat.

Valid point, However essentially everywhere else on the defense is better now than it was then, hence making progress in the aggregate.

In a salary cap league there is always going to be a trade off. Further any GM is going to have to be careful not to pay a guy based on what he has done but rather what you think he will do during the life of the contract. Paying jones big money for a couple years maybe worth it, but paying him for 4-5 years is a gamble.

Problem is, let’s say hypothetically they let Jones play out his contract and walk next year. You can tag and trade, but he’s taking up most of the salary cap until he is traded and it hurts your ability to sign other free agents.

You can let him walk but then the roster is almost completely void of talent at DT and you don’t have any additional picks to help address the position. Left tackle is very likely your top need (again) so can you really use your 1st at DT when QB1s blind spot protection is in question again? You’d have to hope 1-2 of Leonard Williams, Christian Wilkins, or DJ Reader are available as the top FA options on the market outside of Jones. Of course they’ll all likely command large contracts, so are they that much lower than Jones that it’s worth it to not just extend Jones?

If we're a worse team, we aren't going to be able to compete in the current AFC field with what we have to offer on the DL. There's alot of talent there sure, but you take away the cornerstone of the defense and they can't get the stops they need.

Oh I completely agree, I just hate the false equivalencies being presented. He's NOT Mahomes, and no one is saying that he's not an important player. What is being suggested that if next year is a tag and trade of CJ95, that Veach probably has a plan in place to address this and come out looking decent. You don't build dynasties by overpaying players and creating a very Top heavy pay structure on your roster.

That is part of the problem, however, you can extend Thuney possibly, drop MVS, restructure Mahomes, etc. It's difficult, but not completely handcuffing our ability to manuever. Also, in regards to contract size, barring they create what is in essence a dummy year on the contract, the amount is high enough that I think you can possibly make it up in the aggregate amongst defensive positions. Although we possibly disagree on this one, this is actually a really good argument that does hold some weight in thought, and is a very good point that not many people have brought up or think about.

I don't think anyone is advocating trading him at this exact moment, I think people are suggesting a tag and trade next year instead, which would give Veach time to address the position group.

If Veach can completely overhaul our OLine in 1 offseason, I have every confidence that he would have a plan to address the defensive line.

Losing a player like him would be unfortunate obviously, however, losing one player will not drop our defense from 16th in points and 11th in Yards to 28th in both, especially with the recovered assets (cap and picks) that will probably be used on defensive players.

They all help each other, but there are 10 more players out there defending every play, and some of them are pretty damn talented.

Oh, yeah, if they wanna tag and trade him next year, sure. We've got FA and the draft to move and shake and do some things.

But you absolutely can't do it right now.

Well we're waiting