Kansas City Chiefs General Manager Brett Veach spoke to the media via video press conference last Thursday in preparation for the start of the upcoming NFL Draft on April 23.
Veach brushed over a number of topics including the team’s draft strategy, additions through free agency, salary cap, and the contract situations involving defensive tackle Chris Jones and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Deciding who gets the big, fat, pay raise, (Mahomes or Jones) is a debate topic that has been brought up from time to time over the off-season thus far.
One route many fans are on board with; is extending Mahomes and trading Jones for additional draft capital.
While another idea is paying Jones now and allowing Mahomes to go into the final year of his rookie contract.
That’s what we’re going to look at as Veach said a few things that indicate the is at least confident they may be able to sign both of their star players to large contract extensions this off-season.
Of course, this sounds unrealistic because when you look at the team’s amount of cap space via OverTheCap ($329,548), being able to sign just one of these guys to a large contract seems barely doable, let alone signing both.
However, during his video presser, Veach admitted that while sites like OverTheCap do a decent job at showing the numbers side, they don’t display everything he has at his disposal and what he can do with the cap to make certain contracts possible.
“Obviously, these sites that fans use — OverTheCap and Spotrac — are both good sites,” Veach allowed. “They’re not always accurate — but they’re close.” He continued.
“So the numbers may say one thing, but there are so many different things you can do to get yourself to where you need to be. It’s hard — unless, I guess, you’re sitting in our rooms here — to know what we’re thinking, but suffice to say that obviously, we’re aware of what it costs to sign our draft picks. There are some things that we’ve talked about and we’re prepared to do a number of different things. We’ve been working from this blueprint the whole time.”
So, just that little bit from Veach should give any fan some optimism that despite the team’s salary cap position, which was under $200 at one point, the Chiefs aren’t as strapped as the cap would suggest.
But do both Chris Jones and Pat Mahomes’ contract extensions fit in the Chiefs’ blueprint?
Veach gives reason to believe that everything will work itself out in the contract talks with Chris Jones’ representatives and that there’s plenty of time to eventually get something done.
“We’ve had a lot of discussion with Chris and the Katz brothers (Jones’ agents), and we continue to have that,” said Veach. “We’ve got a lot of time, certainly these are — it’s a unique environment in which we’re working with, and we were able to kind of navigate the free agency period and retain some guys. We’re going to work through the draft and we’re going to continue the dialogue. But we know how talented Chris is, and I think the franchise tag speaks for it, and we also have a lot of time.” Veach explained.
“I think the deadline to get a deal done is July 15,” Veach added, “So there’s a lot of time to continue the dialogue and to work on something with Chris. We certainly are going to work to maintain him not just for next year, but for the future,” Veach declared.
The Chiefs handed their star defensive tackle the franchise tag in late February where he’ll make roughly $16.1 million in 2020 if a new deal isn’t signed. Jones was reportedly looking for a contract similar to Aaron Donald. However, the big money deal defensive tackle DeForest Buckner signed with the Indianapolis Colts may have made Jones’ potential contract numbers grow even more.
According to CBS Sports, Buckner’s deal was an $84 million extension averaging $21 million per year, including $56.4 million in guarantees and $39.4 million fully guaranteed at his signing.
Which may make things a little tougher on Kansas City if Jones is expecting a similar deal.
Veach also touched on the team’s ‘priority’ of the off-season and seems determined to eventually get something done long-term to keep franchise QB Patrick Mahomes in a red jersey for the foreseeable future.
“Pat is a priority,” said Veach. “The way we look at it now — with all that’s going on — we’re going to have a lot of time to work with. Again, Pat and his agents Chris Cabbot and Leigh Steinberg know that Pat is a priority. Pat isn’t going anywhere. He’s going to be here for a long time.”
Mahomes and Jones were two of Kansas City’s key contributors last season.
Mahomes threw for 4,031 yards and 26 touchdowns to win Super Bowl MVP while Jones was the team’s centerpiece of defense gathering 36 tackles, 20 QB hits, and 9 sacks.
While I am in no way, shape, or form, a salary cap expert, seeing both players return for the foreseeable future would be tremendous for Kansas City and if there’s a way to realistically sign both players to huge extensions, Veach will find it.
Following the draft, this might be something to keep an eye on as we go deeper into the 2020 NFL off-season.
