It took longer than Chris Jones expected but the Chiefs pass rusher picked up his $1.25 million bonus for registering 10 sacks this season, and the celebration certainly punctuated the moment.
The moment occurred with under 5 minutes left in the third quarter when Jones finally picked up the sack of Chargers quarterback Easton Stick that had eluded him through the first half of the game.
Head coach Andy Reid highlighted Jones’ play in his postgame remarks.
“It was great to get Chris that sack, the one sack,” Reid said. “Took him a little bit, I think he had eight hurries getting there. He really played a good game, it just took him a while to get an actual sack.”
Many of the team’s starters didn’t play Sunday, including quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce. Those two players are inactive and did not dress for the game, yet Reid was comfortable allowing Jones to play 43 snaps to get the sack he needed to reach double digits for the season. Jones also know has 75.5 sacks in his career, which ranks fifth in franchise history.
“Well first of all, he wanted the opportunity, so (I) gave him the opportunity,” Reid said. “It started off with third downs and as it went on he played a couple first and second downs. He wanted to get that done.”
The play gave Jones 10 1/2 sacks on the season, helping him reach a $1.25 million incentive added to his contract when he signed a renegotiated one-year deal following the first week of the regular season. The new contract included a series of incentives designed to allow Jones to boost his pay for the 2023 season.
Jones had already achieved $2 million in bonuses by playing in 35% and 50% of the team’s snaps. Reaching 10 sacks boosts his bonus money to $3.25 million.
While Jones won’t pick up an additional $500,000 bonus for 15 sacks, he still has an opportunity to earn two other bonuses. One would pay him $1 million for earning first-team All-Pro honors with the Chiefs reaching the Super Bowl. He is less likely to earn a $2 million bonus for winning both the Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Super Bowl.
All of Jones’ bonuses were considered likely to be earned since Jones and the Chiefs met all the criteria last season. Any incentives Jones does not earn will be credited back to the Chiefs next season. Right now, that would be a credit of $3.5 million.
Jones didn’t hold back his exuberance following his milestone sack, as NFL Next Gen Stats noted that he reached a top speed of 14.85 miles per hour during his celebration — his second-fastest speed on any play Sunday against the Chargers.
The celebration illustrated how important Jones reaching the incentive was to the entire team, Reid said.
“You can see by the response of the players that it meant a bunch, not only to him, but to the guys,” Reid said. “They were all on board pulling for him. That’s kind of the neat thing about that. That’s a couple cheeseburgers right there that he made.”
