He’ll sign.

But I like playing hypotheticals, too.

If we traded him, we’d need a star defender with a locked in contract and a 1st back for him.

I did. The difference is that Mahomes plays offense too. Take Jones away from this D a it’s a 25-32 unit imo. He’s that important.

So to play devil's advocate...

I think you want to try and minimize the number of players who, if they were out for a playoff game, would sink your chances.

Obviously you need a QB with at least one leg.

It would be nice to be able to survive without Kelce.

It would be nice to be able to lose any given starter on D and not be 100% reliant on a player on the wrong side of thirty.

I said now contract 3 months ago and still feel the same. He wants more than we can pay.

My toaster gets closer to my bathtub every minute this goes on!!!

I think this is right.

None of us are in the room, so no one here has any idea how reasonable either side is being.

If we trade Jones, I sincerely doubt it’s because we just didn’t want to pay him. It’s because we didn’t want to overpay him.

I want Jones back, because this could be a very special season and he’s still a dominant player. I also get that with Mahomes, we’re contenders for the next decade (with or without Jones).

Veach has earned our trust. I’m in favor of whatever he does.

He’d damn well better be.

He is getting $28+ million to play this year.

Tag him next year if nothing gets worked out over the next few months. Tag number next year for DT is about $21 million. Let him explore his options. See what happens. Either outcome at that point is a win-win.

He’s already likely threatening to hold out this year and he’s actually under contract.

If we tag him next year, it’ll be even more acrimonious.

This isn’t win-win.

I've not seen the threat to hold out the season. Holding out training camp is a different thing than the season.

And to me, having Chris Jones going forward after next year is a win. Having no Chris Jones, but $20 million to $30 million to spend plus a few extra quallity draft picks is also a win. Hence, win-win.

Kinda doubt he sits out the year and forfeits the massive salary he is already set to receive. If he does, though, go ahead and tag.

Veach's penny pinching ways this offseason look very astute right now.

I don’t think Chris Jones will sit out games either but I’m sure he’s absolutely using the possibility of that as leverage.

And there’s no win in trading Chris Jones before this season. We wouldn’t remotely be able to replace his production with cash to spend on guys who aren’t on the market and draft picks who won’t be available before the 2024 season.

If this had been before FA and the draft, it’s a different discussion. Resorting to trading him now is a disaster and that would absolutely be a pretty clear miscalculation on Veach’s part.

I ultimately think he’ll show up and play the season out under contract and I think that’s probably where the team’s at.

To be clear, I am not applying the trade option to this year. It would be the tag and trade option prior to the draft next year.

i, too, think a deal will get done, but this does worry me with injury

jones has always been a guy who gets nicked up and players who miss a lot of camp tend to get injured