Chris Jones signs new one-year deal with Chiefs

According to the team, the Kansas City Chiefs have reached a new one-year contract with defensive lineman Chris Jones.

According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, Jones will be able to earn more money than he would have from his original contract (which runs through this year) by means of incentives.

The specifics of the deal are not yet known.

“Chris is an elite player in this league, and over the last seven years, he’s really developed into a leader on our team,” said general manager Brett Veach in an official statement. “He’s been instrumental to our success and Super Bowl championship runs and it was a priority for us to keep him in a Chiefs uniform. I’d like to thank Chris and his representation, Michael and Jason Katz, for their desire and patience to get this done. Through this process two things were obvious, Chris wanted to be a Chief, and the Katz brothers worked diligently on his behalf.”

As he sought an extension to the four-year contract he signed before the 2020 season, Jones did not participate in the team’s voluntary organized team activities (OTAs), the mandatory three-day minicamp in June, every day of training camp (including all three preseason games) and the Week 1 game against the Detroit Lions last Thursday.

As a result of the holdout, Jones has walked away from a $500,000 workout bonus and $1.08 million in salary for missing the first game of the season. He also accumulated almost $99,000 in fines for missing the three-day minicamp, along with a daily fine of $50,000 during training camp and the preseason. That began on his reporting day of July 21 and continued through Sunday, September 3. That’s a total of 45 days.

So all told, Jones’ holdout will have cost him $1.58 million in lost earnings — plus $2.35 million in non-waivable fines — for a total of a little more than $3.9 million.

We will update this post with more details should they become available.