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Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud
That would be an absolutely awful idea from the player's standpoint.
Chris Jones is 25 years old and is without a doubt, the best defensive player available this offseason, whether it's to the Chiefs or via trade. Every NFL player dreams of their second contract because it provides a lifetime (or more) of financial stability.
If he were take a under-market contract for 2 years, then hit free agency, he would be giving up millions, if not tens of millions, of guaranteed money.
And if he were to be injured, any possibility of a huge payday, which he has definitely earned to the point, would be gone.
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And frankly, the Chiefs are unlikely to be terribly interested as well.
A 2 year deal truncates all the cap figures and puts them in a tight spot both years. It allows for less cap manipulation and puts all the risk on the Chiefs at that point.
The Chiefs have Jones on the tag for effectively $38 million over the next 2 seasons. And with the tag, they're protected if the league doesn't play any/all of the next season OR if Jones gets immediately injured and isn't going to be at 100% for chunks of this season or next. If the league doesn't go forward, they are almost certainly off the hook for his weekly pro-rated salary in weeks there is no league play. And if the league does go forward and gets hurt, they just don't tag him in 2021 and they're not tied to him for an ineffective/lost season.
There's just way too much risk to the Chiefs in that scenario with little to be gained in long-term upside.
It's probably not a good decision for either side, really. Though given the COVID backdrop, if I'm Jones and can get a 2 year, $38 million deal that has a $15 million signing bonus plus a $4 million roster bonus this season plus a $1 million base salary to go with a $10 million roster bonus next season and an $8 million guaranteed salary, I'd probably take it.
That puts $19 million in my pocket immediately so if the season does/does not get played, I'm still rich. Then the $8 million guaranteed salary next season creates a substantial dead hit if the Chiefs elected to move on, so that would make them less likely to cut him to avoid the $10 million roster bonus. At that point its extremely likely that his $18 million for 2021, while not fully guaranteed, will still be paid. And the $10 million roster bonus would again come in a single chunk and be paid with/without a full season.
Then if things go well, his contract and cap hit (roughly $25 million next season) would put him in a very nice negotiating position to be able to convert the remainder of that $8 million salary into a signing bonus and tag a couple of extra seasons onto the deal to get him to that 4 year contract he really wanted to begin with.
If they don't go well, he's still banked nearly $40 million and even if they go catastrophically poorly (to the point the Chiefs eat the $8 million to avoid the roster bonus) he's still banked $28 million.
There's a structure that could be utilized here to make it palatable for Jones, IMO, IF he the Chiefs are even willing to do it.