Explaining the uniqueness of Chiefs DT Chris Jones' new contract
The Kansas City Chiefs got quite creative with how they gave DT Chris Jones a raise during the 2023 NFL season. Jones signed a new contract with the team, one that didn't add any new years onto his prior deal. The contract was filled with $6.75M in new incentives, allowing him to earn back the money he […]
The Kansas City Chiefs got quite creative with how they gave DT Chris Jones a raise during the 2023 NFL season.
Jones signed a new contract with the team, one that didn't add any new years onto his prior deal. The contract was filled with $6.75M in new incentives, allowing him to earn back the money he lost during his holdout and then some. The kicker is how Brett Veach and Brandt Tilis managed to organize those incentives so that they didn't count against 2023's salary cap.
According to the good folks at Over the Cap, the Chiefs tacked on the incentives as an option bonus with four void years in order to avoid paying for the incentives in 2023.
This move keeps Jones' cap hit at $26.8M for the 2023 NFL season, leaving the Chiefs with around $180K in 2023 after the Joe Thuney restructure.
With the void years, it looks as if Jones carries $1.35M toward the cap in 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. Those years will automatically void on a certain date. However, the cap hits could be lower depending on the Jones' earned incentives this season.
There's also another catch.
If Jones becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2024, all of that incentive money earned in 2023 would be accelerated against the 2024 salary cap. That would also be the case if the Chiefs use the franchise tag on Jones.
If Jones were to sign a new extension prior to the 2024 void year kicking in, the Chiefs would be able to spread the remainder of Jones' earned incentive cap hits over the life of the new deal.
Basically, the Chiefs have some options on how the new incentives are distributed against the salary cap.
If they want to try and strike a long-term deal again next offseason, they won't have to worry about those incentive cap hits immediately. They can spread them out over the life of the contract as I mentioned before.
If they allow Jones to walk as a free agent, they'll be paying for the earned bonus money on the salary cap next season.
If Brett Veach elects to use the franchise tag, they'll be on the hook for both the franchise tag amount (over $30 million) and the earned incentive money from 2023 during the 2024 NFL season. That is, of course, assuming they don't turn around a trade Jones while he's on the tag. In that case, they'd just be paying the earned incentive money toward the salary cap in 2024.
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Featured image via Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
