The #Chiefs restructured one of the biggest contracts on their books on Tuesday after Chris Jones ended his holdout.
The Kansas City Chiefs got creative with the numbers on Tuesday by restructuring veteran guard Joe Thuney’s contract to create $8.7 million in cap space. The move comes just a day after All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones ended his months-long holdout from team activities.
The Chiefs needed to create some cap space with the return of DL Chris Jones to the roster.
In order to do so, they restructured the contract of G Joe Thuney, creating $8.7M in 2023 cap space.
Kansas City had to get back under the NFL’s mandatory salary cap after agreeing to new terms with Jones, so this move isn’t out of the ordinary. Functionally, Thuney will now be un-cuttable for the Chiefs, who clearly had no intention of parting ways with the talented guard.
Now that Jones is back in the mix defensively, Kansas City should have a better chance to maximize their abilities against opposing offenses and test their mettle against the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2.
Though Jones’ official status for the game is unknown, Chiefs fans can rest easy knowing that Kansas City’s star pass rusher is set to return to action soon.
Kevin O’Connell told Mike Florio on Monday that the #Vikings have no timeline for extending superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson
The Minnesota Vikings are in a quandary. Strapped for cap space, the team has elite talent on both sides of the ball, but has robbed Peter to pay Paul in order to keep continuity at key positions, sacrificing future flexibility to field a competitive roster in 2023.
Looming over the team now is the need to extend wide receiver Justin Jefferson beyond the fifth-year option that the team picked up earlier in the offseason. One of the most dominant players in the league at his position, the importance of having Jefferson in the huddle can’t be understated, and the Vikings would be wise to figure out a long-term deal for him as soon as possible.
But Minnesota’s head coach Kevin O’Connell told Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk on Tuesday that Minnesota doesn’t yet have anything in the works for the talented receiver. Though he made it clear that the team’s intention is to sign him to an extension at some point, the lack of urgency in O’Connell’s comment doesn’t bode well for the Vikings, who may have worked themselves into a corner with their best offensive player.
“I don’t know if I’d put a timeline on it, I just know that, you know, we very much are looking forward to having Justin play here for a really long time,” O’Connell told Florio. “He has significantly impacted our organization in so many positive ways on and off the field. I look forward to when we get that done and we can move forward knowing that Justin’s going to be here for the long term and we will get that done.
“Justin knows, his representation knows exactly how we feel about him. We’ll work through that process here over the rest of this spring on into summer and then if we can get something done nobody will be more excited about it than me and we’ll be looking forward to seeing what Justin does in year two in this offense.”
Jefferson’s next contract is sure to be a hot topic over the course of the 2023 season as Minnesota looks to remain atop the NFC North after dominating the division last year. The price to be paid to retain Jefferson will only go up if he maintains the torrid pace of production that he has achieved in his first three seasons.
With other needs to fill in the coming years, the Vikings’ financial situation may turn a no-brainer extension into a drawn-out and painful process for fans who simply want to see their team keep a superstar around for as long as possible.
Staley told reporters on Monday that extension talks with quarterback Justin Herbert are “ongoing”
It should come as no surprise to Los Angeles Chargers fans that the team is highly motivated to get a deal done on an extension for quarterback Justin Herbert, who is set to become a free agent at the end of the 2023 season. While the Chargers are currently hamstrung by a less-than-ideal financial situation relative to their salary cap, the price they will pay to secure Herbert’s services for the foreseeable future will only go up.
According to one report, head coach Brandon Staley told reporters that negotiations with Herbert on an extension are “ongoing” though no timetable for when ink might hit paper was provided.
Chargers coach Brandon Staley says that contract discussions are ongoing with quarterback Justin Herbert.
Los Angeles’ financial inflexibility will come to play a key factor in talks with their star quarterback, and cuts may be necessary next season to make room for Herbert’s inflated cap number. It is unknown how this might impact the Chargers’ roster in 2024, but the sooner the team can reach an agreement with Herbert the better their chances will be to manage their salary cap in such a way that minimizes the impact on their starters moving forward.
