Chiefs: A Trade in the Works? by Paul Pulley – Should the Kansas City Chiefs GM Brett Veach be attempting to initiate a trade? I’m suggesting a player for player trade of the Chiefs DT Chris Jones for Safety Jamal Adams of the New York Jets.
Things We Know
We know that Jamal Adams isn’t happy as a Jet and is wanting to be traded. We know that Adams salary is a known quantity for the next two seasons, which is considerably less than the franchise tag dollars currently owed to Jones, assuming he signs the tag.
We know that the Chiefs are very tight to the salary cap with little room to maneuver, and we also have a QB to get signed long term. We know that the Jets have plenty of cap space to sign Jones long term, with almost $25M currently and well over $50M projected for 2021.
In his short 3 year NFL career, Adams is already a pro bowl and all pro safety.
Things We Can Assume
Reportedly, Jones and the Chiefs are not working on a long term solution to keep Jones in Kansas City. We can assume that Jones is wanting the highest pay he can get for a defensive lineman, which he may or may not be worth. Jones did a mini-holdout last year, although he did report to training camp on time, so we could assume Jones will hold out again this year, even into the regular season.
We can assume that Adams will be considerably more content playing for the reigning Super Bowl Champions than he is for a team that’s only had one winning season in the past decade. We can also do more than assume that Adams wants to win the big one:
Although their collegiate careers were at different times, Adams might relish playing side by side with LSU alum, Tyrann Mathieu. Also…
Will the Chiefs D Suffer Without Jones?
This is debatable. The Chiefs interior pass rush will take a hit, as Jones is undoubtedly one of the better pass rushers in the league from the Defensive Tackle position, but… it can be argued that the run defense would be better with Saunders and/or Pennel on the field instead of Jones.
- The Chiefs lost 4 games in 2019, Jones played in 2 of those, including the loss to the Titans in which Jones played 85% of the defensive snaps.
- Jones missed 4 games in 2019, the Chiefs went 2-2 in those games, with one of the losses (to the Packers) that QB Patrick Mahomes also missed.
- A lot of people want to make Jones out to be this huge difference maker, but he has been a Chief for 4 years and let’s face it, for 3 ½ of those years, the defense was pretty awful.
Some would point out that we would lose Jones production, in 2019 he had 36 tackles, 9 sacks and 20 QB hits, and I agree that would be missed, but his replacement, whomever that would be, is bound to have stats that would approach those numbers, with the exception of batted balls.
Can Jamal Adams Fit in the KC Defense
Without question, the base defense in the current NFL is the nickel defense, with 5 defensive backs on the field, and the Chiefs are in nickel as much, or more, than almost any other team.
Adding Adams would give the Chiefs three starting safeties, but I have little doubt that DC Spagnuolo will be able to put them to good use, especially considering that the linebacker corp is still a weakness. This would allow starting safety Tyrann Mathieu some occasional rest, as he played in almost 98% of the defensive snaps last year.
The addition of Adams would also give some insurance if starting FS Juan Thornhill isn’t fully recovered from his torn ACL by the beginning of the season.
Financial Implications of a Trade Like This
The NFL is a business, we hear this over and over. This is where the Chiefs can really benefit from this trade. Trading Jones would remove the $16+M cap hit for the franchise tag.
Adams current cap hit for the Jets is just over $7.1M, but almost half of that is a signing bonus that the Jets have already paid, leaving Adams owed about $3.6M for 2020. What’s interesting is that of the approximately $3.6M, almost $2.8M is reported as a roster bonus. Depending on the type of roster bonus, and the wording of the contract, it is possible that this roster bonus is owed by or has already been paid by the Jets. Which following a trade, would mean that the cap hit to the Chiefs would only be Adams 2020 base salary of $825,000.
Either way, this move would free up a considerable amount of cap space. In addition to the money saved by trading Jones, this move could also make Dan Sorenson expendable, freeing up an additional $3.75M of cap space.
The biggest drawback I can see, is that 2 years from now, both Tyrann Mathieu and Jamal Adams contracts will expire, leaving GM Veach with a decision to make. However, by that time, Mathieu will be 30 years old, while Adams is three and a half years younger.
It’s just my opinion, but if the possibility exists, I would make the trade.
Paul Pulley — ArrowheadOne
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