Heading into the offseason, most expected the Kansas City Chiefs to ultimately use their franchise tag to keep superstar defensive tackle Chris Jones on the roster for the upcoming 2024 NFL season. But in a pretty stunning turn of events, it sounds like the Chiefs are using that tag on a different player instead.
According to a report from NFL insider Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Kansas City Chiefs have instead decided to use their franchise tag on star cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.
“#Chiefs have informed L’Jarius Sneed they are prepared to use the franchise tag and are open to consummate a trade off it if no long-term deal is reached, per source. Sneed is agreeable to the scenario, giving him chance to talk with other teams while K.C. remains in play,” Fowler wrote in a post on X, the social media website that was formerly known as Twitter.
#Chiefs have informed L’Jarius Sneed they are prepared to use the franchise tag and are open to consummate a trade off it if no long-term deal is reached, per source.
Sneed is agreeable to the scenario, giving him chance to talk with other teams while K.C. remains in play pic.twitter.com/JayTzcAW0Y
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) February 27, 2024
This was a pretty shocking turn of events for most people, including Pro Football Focus Salary Cap Analyst Brad Spielberger, who speculates that the Chiefs could have made this decision because the Chiefs and Jones have made progress on a potential contrac extension.
Interesting, figured Chris Jones even at his crazy number could be the tag candidate. Makes me think there may be some progress there on extension talks.
Think it’s fair of Chiefs to want more than a comp pick for what probably would’ve been the top FA CB by far https://t.co/AZnriJQt3d
— Brad Spielberger, Esq. (@SpielbergerBrad) February 27, 2024
“Interesting, figured Chris Jones even at his crazy number could be the tag candidate. Makes me think there may be some progress there on extension talks.
Think it’s fair of Chiefs to want more than a comp pick for what probably would’ve been the top FA CB by far,” Spielberger said in a post.
It will certainly see what happens from here, because now the only way that Jones will be on the Chiefs’ roster next season is if the team is able to work out a contract extension with him.
