Finders Keepers: Chiefs Can Hang Onto Jones and Watkins – there is a lot of deceit that goes on this time of year. Teams try their best to avoid predictability, going into the draft. Efforts are, frequently, made to obscure intentions about existing players who may be cut, but teams would rather trade. It was around this time, last year, that Chiefs were rumored to be fielding trade offers for Justin Houston. Given his contract, that of course, never materialized and he was, ultimately, cut. This year, rumors indicate that Chiefs will make a push to retain both DT Chris Jones and WR Sammy Watkins. On its surface, the idea that they could keep both seems ludicrous. Watkins cap hit is massive this year, and Jones is looking for elite Defensive Line money. That said, depending on how the CBA turns out, it’s not totally out of the question for Chiefs to pull this off. Here’s how they could do it.
Sammy Watkins
Watkins’ cap hit, this year is $21M, of that he’s guaranteed $7M, so any new contract will have that money built in. A long term deal doesn’t really fit either the Chiefs, or Watkins’ interest. Watkins can make more money elsewhere, and Chiefs need that space for impending contracts. I could see Watkins taking a pretty significant team discount to make one more Super Bowl run, something like $5M in new money.
Chiefs would likely structure this contract as either auto-voiding in 2021, or with a team option that’s unlikely to be picked up. Doing so, they could push some of that money to next year, and free cap space for Jones, now. Effectively, Chiefs get would Watkins for one year at $12M and Watkins gets one more chance to fully rebuild his value, while playing on a team he really likes. This frees up $11.5M this year.
Chris Jones
This contract negotiation got a whole lot more complicated with the looming CBA. Jones has given every indication that he wants, at least, Frank Clark money. A significant bump in the salary cap coming from a 17-game season, would make that kind of deal very doable. Unfortunately, agents aren’t above moving the goalposts, given new circumstances. If the CBA does get passed, contract demands will go up, across the board, and that includes Jones. With that in mind, it will probably take Aaron Donald money to keep him. That’s $22.5M a year and probably $50M guaranteed at signing, though other guarantees would undoubtedly kick in throughout the contract. Jones will probably get five years, though, rather than Donald’s six.
Assuming the Chiefs structure his guarantees as a signing bonus, you know he’ll be making at least $10M a year. Current NFL rules prohibit a contract structure from raising, or lowering, the cap hit of a player by more than 30%. K.C. could give Jones a base salary of $5M his first year, giving him a $15M cap hit. In 2021, that could expand to $9.5M, giving him a $19.5M cap hit. Those are two fairly workable cap hits in Chiefs Super Bowl window, as currently constructed. After that however, Jones contract would climb precipitously, to $25.35M in 2022, $29.175M in 2023, and $33M in 2024. This will create a definite rebuild year, in 2022, where Jones will be impossible to cut, and the last year of Frank Clark, and Tyreek Hill’s deals will fall.
Conclusion
If Chiefs are willing to forego significant free agent acquisitions, going forward, it’s absolutely possible for them to keep both Jones and Watkins. After such a move though, GM Brett Veach will have to be very astute in his manipulation of the cap. Any injury to Jones will be likely to severely impact the Chiefs defense, as quality depth will be hard to retain. The wild card, in all of this is the CBA. A significant rise in the cap, could help them retain Jones, but it could also cause his contract demands to skyrocket, thus forcing a trade. Either way, little if any, headway will be made until the CBA is done. A wildcard, in all of this is the Colts, who could be willing to make Veach an offer he can’t refuse, for Jones. Stay tuned. Go Chiefs!
Ransom Hawthorne — ArrowheadOne
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