Nic Jones Agrees to Rookie Contract With Kansas City Chiefs

As the offseason continues, the Kansas City Chiefs will continue to ink members of their 2023 NFL Draft class to rookie-scale contracts. Safety Chamarri Conner was the first player from that group to agree to a four-year deal, and he's having another teammate join him this week.

According to his representation at JL Sports, cornerback Nic Jones has agreed to a four-year rookie deal with Kansas City:

Congrats to our client @Showout_NJ on agreeing to a 4 year contract with KC chiefs 💪
— JL Sports (@JLSports3) May 16, 2023

Jones, who was a seventh-round pick and the team's final selection in April's draft, spent four collegiate seasons playing for the Ball State Cardinals. Recording three interceptions with 19 passes broken up and 64 tackles in college, Jones flashed a bit of a ceiling as someone who can play a feisty brand of football and compete at a high level despite some merely decent athletic testing throughout the pre-draft process.

While the details of Jones's rookie contract are not available as of the publishing of this article, there are some relatively sound estimates that can be used as a reference. Because he was a seventh-round pick, there wasn't much room for negotiation on either side of the proverbial contract coin.

The Ball State product was always headed down a path of landing a standard rookie deal for his draft slot, and Spotrac's estimates reflect that. The site projects a total four-year value of $3.92 million for Jones, which includes a signing bonus of $77,777. The estimated 2023 salary cap hit for Jones is $769,444. The estimated total value falls a bit shy of Conner's final total ($4.59M), but the signing bonus is listed as significantly lower and the penalty for Kansas City potentially parting ways with Jones during his rookie deal will be lower as well.

In year No. 1 on the job, the odds will be stacked against Jones making the Chiefs' final 53-man roster. Not only is he a late-round pick, but he's also facing an uphill battle to crack a depth chart that contains a multitude of higher-profile names from the drafted ranks and some equally talented players from the undrafted free agent pool. Jones projects to earn his keep as a special teams prospect early in his career, which could be his only ticket to getting serious snaps as a rookie if he does play. If not, the 21-year-old could be looking at some time on the practice squad as he adjusts to life in the NFL.

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