The Chiefs and Chris Jones have an under-the-radar deadline coming tomorrow. Jones’s holdout has now been going for well over a month. And as of Sunday, he’s accrued a whopping $1.8 million in fines. If he doesn’t show by Tuesday, he’ll be putting even more cash in peril.
In Article 20 of the CBA, there’s a rule that sets a deadline for five days before the end of the preseason (which is Tuesday) for a player to report. If he doesn’t, then a team can use a roster exemption to withhold game checks from him even after he reports.
So here’s how it works: At the cutdown, which is 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, the Chiefs will move Jones—if he hasn’t reported—to the reserve/did not report list. If he shows up, say, a week later, then Kansas City would likely apply for a two-game roster exemption during which the Chiefs can carry Jones without using a roster spot. And under this rule, if Jones doesn’t report by Tuesday, the Chiefs can choose not to pay Jones while using that exemption on him (once he’s activated, obviously, they will have to pay him).
That means if Kansas City holds Jones out for two games to prepare him for games, it’d be entitled to keep those two game checks, which would add up to $2.22 million and add to the money Jones is already using on fines. And, sure, Jones would probably ask the Chiefs not to do that in exchange for his reporting, but it’s another leverage point for the team.
Will Jones report Tuesday? The tone of negotiations makes it seem unlikely. The sides have been at a stalemate for weeks, with the Aaron Donald number ($31.7 million average annual value) wreaking havoc on this negotiation—the Chiefs, I believe, want to give him a market deal based on where it went with Jeffery Simmons ($23.5 million AAV) and Quinnen Williams ($24 million AAV) this summer. Jones believes Donald’s outlier deal is what he should be paid. So the sizable gap (more than $7 million per year) from one number to another has left Jones and the team at an impasse.
I also don’t think whatever Nick Bosa gets in San Francisco is going to change the stance of either player or team in this case—if anyone thinks that’s the shoe that has to drop.
Bosa is going to be the highest-paid edge rusher of all time. The question to me is whether he’ll get past Donald and to $32 million per year, which would make him the highest-paid defensive player of all time.
Remember, T.J. Watt got $28 million per year two years ago from the Steelers, and it’s easy to make the argument that Bosa’s the superior player. And you can add the 24 months of inflation to that total.
That said, this isn’t—and hasn’t been—an easy negotiation for obvious reasons. But the Niners have a good history of taking care of their own and digging out of sideways contract negotiations—with the Deebo Samuel situation a good example of one that got a little ugly and ultimately resulted in zero games missed by the star receiver. So I’d trust GM John Lynch, EVP of football operations Paraag Marathe and vice president of football administration Brian Hampton to get a deal done with Bosa’s agent, Brian Ayrault.
This is, without question, a critical week to get there, and that things have remained quiet and cordial (the Niners fully understand how the Bosas have a history of being very business-minded, as a team would be) gives everyone the best shot to accomplish that.
08-28-2023, 05:07 PM
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