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The Kansas City Chiefs will be entering the 2023 NFL season looking to repeat as champions after having won Super Bowl 57 last season. With Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and Travis Kelce all back in tow, the Chiefs will be the presumed favorite to win it all again until another team steps up and proves that they should be the favorites instead.
Unfortunately, for much of training camp, the main headlines surrounding the Chiefs has been in regards to Chris Jones' contract holdout. Jones has made it clear he wants a mammoth new contract, and while Kansas City has publicly said they want to keep Jones around, the fact that they haven't extended him isn't a very good sign.
With the regular season quickly approaching, the continued distraction of Jones is not something that the Chiefs are going to want hanging over their head. With seemingly no progress being made towards a deal, let's look at why Kansas City should bite the bullet and trade Jones before the start of the 2023 campaign.
Chiefs last-minute trade: Move on from DL Chris Jones
Suggesting that the Chiefs should trade Jones is something that cannot be done lightly. Jones is fresh off the best season of his career in 2022 (44 tackles, 15.5 sacks, 17 TFL, 29 QB Hits, 4 PD, 2 FF, 1 FR) that saw him earn his fourth-straight Pro Bowl selection and the first First-Team All-Pro honors of his career. He finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year race, and he was easily the most disruptive interior defensive lineman in the entire league last year.
Jones' desire for a new contract makes a lot of sense. He's in the peak of his career and is coming off the best year of his career. He's only 29 years old, so he should be able to remain productive throughout the duration of a four- or five-year deal, but the money associated with the deal appears to be scaring Kansas City off.
The hope has been that Jones would report to training camp and worry about his contract later, but he has implied that he would be willing to sit out until Week 8 of the season before reporting to the Chiefs. This would ensure that he still completes the minimum service time required to fulfill his contract. Whereas if he waited any longer, the final year of his deal would get pushed back to next season.
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Jones wants an outrageously large contract, and so far, the Chiefs haven't given into his desires. Will that change before Week 1 of the season? Maybe. But right now, it seems like there's a pretty massive gap between the two sides, and for that reason, trading Jones has to be something that Kansas City considers.
Teams around the league have been keeping an eye on Jones, and the closer we get to Week 1 without any resolution on his contract, the more likely it is that he gets traded. Having this sort of drama surrounding a team can be detrimental as the season goes on, and while Jones could report midway through the season, players cannot afford to get complacent in expectation of his return.
Trading Jones is becoming a more and more logical path forward for Kansas City, unfortunately. Obviously, they would like to keep him around, and while paying him a ton of money isn't the worst idea ever, the Chiefs already have six players on their roster who have cap hits of at least $11 million, although Jones is already one of those six players.
If the Chiefs decide to cut bait and move on from Jones, they could get a decent return for him with a first-round pick obviously being a fair starting point. But considering how Jones is known to be looking for a huge extension, that will lower return they can expect for him. If whichever team lands Jones ends up having to hand him a massive deal, that's going to restrict how much they offer Kansas City for him.
Losing Jones would severely hamper the Chiefs' defense, as he is easily their best pass rusher. But it feels like this situation is beginning to reach the point of no return. How much longer can Kansas City allow Jones to hold out on them before it becomes too much? Players are already openly acknowledging the situation, and you don't want this to be another thing they have to deal with as the season goes on.
Realistically speaking, the Chiefs should pay Jones what he wants and move on. But by now, it's become clear that isn't going to happen, so it's fair to wonder whether or not a trade is a legit possibility. With teams looking into a potential move, Kansas City should move on from Jones if they aren't going to pay him in order to avoid any more drama.
