KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Remember when the Chiefs couldn't have nice things?
Now, they apparently want all of the nice things.
The team that used to be awful, then decent, then appeared to be peaking at good enough to lose in the playoffs is now the NFL's champion, with a stated mission of creating a dynasty backed up by top-to-bottom commitment.
Chris Jones, the star defensive tackle who wrecked the interior of the San Francisco 49ers' offensive line in the Chiefs' Super Bowl win on Feb. 2, is now the proud owner of a contract worth $60 million in guarantees, covering four years and paying him as much as $85 million.
It is the last major move in a tour de force offseason in which the Chiefs' front office _ led by general manager Brett Veach _ did everything except come up with a COVID-19 vaccine.
Think about it like this. A year ago, six Chiefs players landed in the NFL Network's top 100 _ Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Jones, Frank Clark and Mitchell Schwartz. When the list is updated later this month, Tyrann Mathieu will almost certainly be added.
Schwartz is 31 and Kelce 30, each at the peak of his powers, with the likeliest decline still years away. The five others are an average age of 26.2 years old. NFL contracts are complicated, so it's not quite this simple, but all are signed through at least 2021. Hill is signed through 2022, Clark 2023, Jones 2024 and Mahomes (this still sounds weird) 2031.
On top of that, Juan Thornhill, Charvarius Ward, Mecole Hardman, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire are each 24 or younger, and with the exception of Ward (he'll be a restricted free agent after this season, and next in line for an extension) all of them are also under long-term club control.
That talent is coached by a Hall of Fame lock, with one of the most stable staffs of assistants in a league defined by turnover but now valuing continuity more than ever before.
The list of American sports teams better positioned to become a dynasty in recent years is short, and sure as hell does not include any from Kansas City.
The most obvious threats: injuries, the coronavirus, overconfidence and the Ravens.
The first two can't be helped, the third hasn't shown up yet and the fourth _ while excellent _ has lost to the Chiefs in each of the last two seasons. The last time Baltimore beat the Chiefs was in 2012. Romeo Crennel was the Chiefs' coach then, and Eric Winston went on his "sickening and disgusting" rant after a game.
That was a looooooong time ago.
The Jones news is a mild surprise. His agents, Michael and Jason Katz, have had on-and-off dialogue with the Chiefs about this extension for more than a year. Jones wanted this contract last summer but then watched as the Chiefs traded draft picks for Frank Clark and gave Clark the deal instead.
Instead of generational wealth, Jones played for just under $2 million in 2019 through the Super Bowl. That's a lot of money to me and probably you, but it's also less than Chad Henne, Xavier Williams, Cam Erving, LeSean McCoy, Morris Claiborne and Jordan Lucas made last year.
Jones handled the disappointment like a boss. He showed up to training camp on time, formed a genuine bond with Clark and helped lead the transformation of a defense from wounded to swaggering, from the flat tire keeping the truck on the side of the road to an important part of how the Chiefs conquered the NFL.
Jones was the No. 6-rated interior defensive lineman in 2019 with at least 50% of his team's snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He knocked down three passes in the last six minutes of the Super Bowl, helping the Chiefs regain and then hold onto the lead.
Mahomes will always get the attention, and Damien Williams had big moments, but Jones is on the list of men most responsible for that win.
This contract is not without risk. Jones did not take less than his market value to stay, though he did need to be flexible on the contract's structure. This contract covers the rest of his 20s, and it's impossible to know how a 310-pound pass rusher who relies on athleticism to succeed, and has been injured, will manage.
He is a spectacular but imperfect player with remaining vulnerabilities against the run. He tore a knee ligament in the playoffs after the 2017 season, missed three games in 2019 with a groin injury and sat out a playoff game with a calf injury.
History may well show the Chiefs would've been better off with one more year of Jones on the franchise tag, followed by the added cap space and draft picks collected from an offseason trade next year.
But there are no perfect athletes (other than Mahomes and Mike Trout), only varying shades of greatness, and there can be no doubt that Jones earned this contract with a charismatic blend of hard work, production, leadership and professionalism.
The Chiefs were the clear favorite in the AFC and NFL for 2020, with or without Jones' extension.
But now it just became a little more likely they'll be the favorite in 2021, too, and beyond.
