Pay La'jarius Sneed!...NO! Pay Chris Jones!.... Oh, the salary cap went up 10 million more than originally projected...Pay them both! Brett Veach has done a fantastic job since taking over as the GM after John Dorsey's surprise firing in the summer of 2017. He has been instrumental in this newly cemented dynasty. In Veach I trust!
That said, there's always a chance to make a blunder or two. Veach has had some blunders. His entire first draft was a miss, except for defensive tackle Derrick Nnandi. Jawann Taylor looks like an excessive overpay at best. His return on the trade for Marcus Peters and Dee Ford was a light. We should've got first-round picks for those players and only got high second rounds. What we traded and paid for Frank Clark was extremely high. Drafting CEH over Jonathan Taylor, and then Mecole Hardman over D.K Metcalf. Veach hasn't had any giant busts or anything but some slight misfires.
He's redeemed himself with the Tyreek Hill trade. He got a solid return on that trade, which turned into All-pro Trent Mcduffie and starting running back Isaiah Pacheco. As I said earlier, IN VEACH I TRUST!
This offseason he has the most difficult decision he's ever been faced with. Pay Chris Jones, pay La'jarius Sneed, or mortgage the future and pay both of them? Both players are going to get top-of-the-market deals. What is a GM to do?
Sign Chris Jones and lose Sneed
Spoctrac.com has Chris Jones' market at 28.4 million per year and Sneed's at 16.3 million dollars. That's a little high for Jones and a little low for Sneed. I think Chris Jones deserves to be the second highest-paid DT in the game, but 25 million per year should get it done. The biggest factor in why I would choose this route is the contingency plans behind both players. If the Chiefs lose Sneed, they have All-pro Trent Mcduffie to take his spot, with Joshua Williams or Jaylen Watson to potentially take the No. 2 CB spot. If the Chiefs lose Jones, they have Matt Dickerson, Neil Farrell Jr., and Charles Omenihu when he returns from a torn ACL (probably around week 10). Granted, a lot can happen in a free agency in the draft, but for the backup plan that the Chiefs have to lose, Sneed instills a more substantial level of confidence than the backup plan for losing Jones.
Sign Sneed and lose Jones
Chris Jones' age is a factor because he's about three years older than Sneed, and plays a position with more wear and tear involved. Those players take hits every play. Sneed was an absolute shutdown corner in 2023. He shut down the best in the business, like A.J. Brown, Tyreek Hill, and Ja'Marr Chase, just to name a few. People forget that Sneed was an absolute monster from the time he came into the league. He started great until he got hurt with a shoulder injury in his rookie season. How Sneed didn't get drafted until the fourth round baffles me. How Sneed didn't play for a top school baffles me. The CB tandem of Mcduffie and Sneed is the best in the NFL, and the Chiefs should keep it for the next 3-4 years.
Resign Sneed and Jones
Thanks to the salary cap settling at a surprising 255.4 million when the highest projection was 248 million. The Chiefs could essentially re-sign both Jones and Sneed and go all in on trying to be the first team in the history of the league to three-peat. What will that cost down the line though? Quite a bit of players will need new contracts in the coming years. If the Chiefs were to do this, you could count on Willie Gay Jr., Mike Edwards, and Mike Danna to find new teams. That would be a foremost guarantee. Possibly lose players like Drue Tranquil as well. All of those players were solid contributors in 2023.
Next year alone, the Chiefs have Nick Bolton, Creed Humphrey, and Trey Smith. All three of those players are about as important as Sneed and Jones. How many players will be sacrificed for just two players?
That is the question that will define the 2024 offseason(and possibly beyond) for the Chiefs and general manager Brett Veach. Do you go for the first-ever three-peat? Or do you play it safer and protect a dynasty that could one day pass Tom Brady's Patriots six Super Bowl titles? This offseason will define this dynasty because it's the first offseason where the Chiefs are OFFICIALLY a dynasty.
My Hope and My Prediction
I hope that the Chiefs keep Sneed and pay him what he wants. I hope we let Chris Jones test the market like the Chiefs let Orlando Brown Jr. do last year. Hopefully, Jones' market goes down to like 25 million per year, so the Chiefs can keep a Drue Tranquil and/or sign a mid-level wide receiver like Tyler Boyd or Curtis Samuel.
I predict the Chiefs will pay one player and tag and trade the other. The Chiefs don't have a draft pick passed the fifth round this offseason, and I don't think they'll pay both of these players just because of guys they need to pay down the road. Also, the highest compensatory pick you can get is a late third-round pick, so it would benefit the Chiefs to get a trade for a second round with possibly more and decide where the player will go.
A couple of weeks ago, I would've said that Chris Jones would be traded and Sneed would get paid. Now I'm not so sure. I still think they pay Sneed and tag and trade Chris Jones. Pay Sneed a four-year deal for 60-65 million and tag and trade Chris Jones for a 2nd-round pick in 2024, a sixth-round pick in 2024, and a 4-round pick in 2025. It's a tough decision, but it's stories like these that the NFL offseason the best of all professional sports.
Granted it might not even matter. As long as you have Patrick Mahomes, you always have a chance to win. I was highly critical of the Anthony Hitchens contract of 2018. I was highly critical of the Frank Clark contract and trade of 2019. I was highly critical of the Mecole Hardman draft pick of 2019. I didn't like the trade for Kardarius Toney or the contract of Jawaan Taylor either. Thankfully, Orlando Brown Jr. didn't sign the massive contract because I would've been highly critical of that as well.
Still, with all those blunders, Patrick Mahomes found a way to get it done. I've been saying that if Patrick Mahomes gets three Super Bowls, I will trust Veach no matter what. No matter what this offseason I will scream to the sky, IN VEACH I TRUST!
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