Kansas City Chiefs veterans still have almost a month until they need to report to training camp on July 20, but one is already dreading it.
All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, who didn't participate in a single training camp practice last year while holding out for a new contract, hopes to take some extra time off again.'
Kansas City ultimately made Jones the richest interior defensive lineman in the league, signing him to a five-year, $158.75 million deal. Still, he is trying to convince head coach Andy Reid to let him sit out again.
"I've already been talking to Andy about, 'Let me skip out on training camp. I'm a little older, right?'" Jones said via Jesse Newell of The Kansas City Star. "I can feel it. I can feel when we have a day on training camp. Give me like two days off and one day on then, and we maybe can work something out, you know?"
Without angling for a new contract, Jones might have difficulty convincing his coaches to let him miss practices.
However, the soon-to-be 30-year-old is coming off his second straight All-Pro season in which he recorded 30 tackles, 10.5 sacks and four passes defensed in 16 games.
Jones seems to think that if Reid abides, it will prove beneficial with a long season ahead, but he is still waiting for his head coach's answer.
"He just looked at me," Jones added. "So the conversation is still ongoing."
Jones has an argument. He played a large role in the Chiefs' Super Bowl run last season, and if Kansas City wants similar production from him as it hopes to become the first team to ever three-peat, giving him an easy summer may be worth it.
Whatever Reid's decision is, Jones' approach will not change.
"The mindset is always the same: being in the best shape you could be in, find a way to interact with the community, but also better yourself, doing a good deed a week," Jones finished. "I don't think my mindset ever changed, year in and year out [through different contract situations]."
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