Will Chiefs sign Chris Jones, L’Jarius Sneed? Veach’s early thoughts from Super Bowl

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach smiled at the question, giving his response to reporters three days before his team’s Super Bowl victory against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas.

It seems every year, Veach sees media headlines saying, “This is a big offseason for the Chiefs.”

He has to admit, though ... usually, there’s some truth to that.

“They’re all big. You have to hit them all,” Veach said on Feb. 8 at the Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort. “They’re all big, because when you’re a good franchise, and you’re picking later in the draft and you have less to spend and you don’t have a ton of cap space, they’re all difficult.”

The specific challenges this year are distinct, however, because of two names in particular: defensive tackle Chris Jones and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed.

Both players have expiring contracts after playing significant parts in the Chiefs winning their second consecutive Super Bowl this year.

So to pull off a three-peat next year? While trying to do something no NFL team has ever done? It sure seems KC would be more likely to accomplish that if one (or both) of Jones or Sneed returned to the club next year.

“You’re talking about one of the best DTs, one of the best corners,” Veach said. “So yeah, it’s extremely hard, because you have two keystone players there. And sometimes, I look at our situation like, ‘How are we gonna do this?’”

Veach said any fears about what might happen, however, take him back to his process: a systematic approach that has helped the Chiefs win back-to-back championships for the first time in the NFL since the early 2000s.

Start with this: Veach says the team begins each offseason with top priorities. It shouldn’t be surprising, but Veach says Jones and Sneed “are at the top of the list.”

“Once you figure out how and if you can do both or one,” Veach said, “then it’s just a domino effect of how everything spreads out.”

The Chiefs face a quick-approaching decision on each. Starting at 3 p.m. Central Tuesday (and extending until March 5), the Chiefs can choose to put the franchise tag on either Jones or Sneed.

With Jones, that appears doubtful, given the cost. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday that Jones would be “an unlikely tag candidate,” given his one-year deal under that setup would be around $32 million.

Sneed appears to be a more probable option for the franchise tag. His cost as a cornerback would be just above $18 million, which could make more sense for the Chiefs as they potentially attempt to sign him to a longer-term deal.

During Super Bowl week, Veach said that the most important thing was to remain flexible with what might happen.

“We have two or three different blueprints or plans that we’re kind of looking like, ‘What if? What if?’” Veach said. “Sometimes, you don’t know how things ... there’s always a curveball that gets thrown in there.”

Jones’ situation is certainly an interesting one.

He seems to like being with the Chiefs, even telling fans at the Super Bowl parade rally last week, “For those who want Chris Jones gone, I ain’t going nowhere, baby! I will be here this year, next year and the year after.” Jones then started a “Three-peat” chant with the crowd.

While one of Jones’ agents, Michael Katz, quickly posted to X (formerly Twitter) to downplay his client’s words, the reality remains that both sides seem interested in a reunion.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid also spoke to that during an after-Super Bowl press conference with reporters on Feb. 13.

“I think Veach has said it before: We’d love to have (Chris) back. They’ve just got to work all that out,” Reid said. “But I think the effort will be there probably on both parts to try to get something done.”

Early betting markets seem to agree with that stance. DraftKings, for instance, has Jones minus-350 odds to take his first snap with the Chiefs next season. That’s 78% implied odds, with the Chicago Bears (plus-475, 17% implied odds) a distant second place.

Veach and his staff went through some negotiations with Jones last season after he held out training camp and KC’s first game against Detroit while seeking a long-term extension. Eventually, Veach invited Jones to speak with him in his office the day after the Lions game — a meeting that Veach said was “helpful and beneficial.”

A few days later, Jones agreed to the one-year contract that he played with this season.

“Certainly, it was important for us to mend the fences with Chris, because we love him, and he’s an iconic player, not just here, but of all-time,” Veach said on Feb. 8. “That was important for us and (we’ll) continue to work hard to see if we can get something done. But it’ll be a priority for us.”

This offseason, Veach said he anticipates those lines of communication with Jones and his team will “pick up right where it left off.”

“But I think there’ll be more knowledge on both sides, and the (salary) cap will be a little bit higher,” Veach said. “And so, you’re just hopeful that it can work out this year. It’ll be a priority like it was last year.”

Sneed’s circumstances are fascinating as well.

He seems a better fit in KC than some other places because defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo emphasizes both man coverage and physical play.

Then again, the Chiefs have built plenty of depth behind Sneed, too. Trent McDuffie earned All-Pro honors this season, while fellow second-year players Joshua Williams (26th) and Jaylen Watson (47th) also had impressive overall defensive rankings at Pro Football Focus among 132 corners with at least 250 snaps.

Remember this, too: Nazeeh Johnson was trending to be the Chiefs’ third corner this year behind Sneed and McDuffie before suffering a season-ending knee injury in training camp. He’s also entering his third season.

Two years ago, the Chiefs faced a similar case to Sneed’s with cornerback Charvarius Ward, who went on to sign a three-year free-agent deal with San Francisco. KC let him walk while putting its eventual faith in Sneed and McDuffie — a belief that worked out even as Ward earned his own second-team All-Pro honor this season.

Sneed, like Jones, seems to have an affinity for KC. When asked on the “Up & Adams” show last week if he had a message for Veach, Sneed repeated two words with a smile: “Pay me.”

This much is certain: Whoever the Chiefs do decide to pay looms as the most consequential storyline of the next few weeks.