Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach gave fans a little bit of reassurance on the contract situations of Chris Jones and L’Jarius Sneed this week as he clarified that they will both among the Chiefs’ top priorities this offseason.

Sometimes I look at our situation and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but we usually work through things systematically and have a list of the priorities. Certainly, Chris and LJ are at the top of the list.”

Veach also went on to say that it would be extremely hard to keep both Chris Jones and L’Jarius Sneed, but Veach isn’t viewing this as a one-or-the-other scenario. He wants to keep the group intact—and who wouldn’t? Sneed and Jones have headed what has been one of the best defenses in franchise history this season. It took years of investment into the defense for it to reach this level and to give Patrick Mahomes and the offense a defense they can finally lean on.

It’s hard to imagine, though, that the defense wouldn’t take a step back next year if you were to lose even one of Sneed or Jones. Veach likely realizes this which is why he is going to make that effort to try and keep both. That’s the best-case scenario. Kansas City will have one franchise tag to use on Sneed or Jones which will give them the opportunity to decide what they want to do instead of letting either of them walk for nothing in free agency.

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach gave fans a little bit of reassurance on the contract situations of Chris Jones and L’Jarius Sneed this week.

While Veach realizes the importance of keeping both Sneed and Jones, he also knows that they’re going to be really expensive and Veach has shown in the past that he isn’t afraid to draw a line in the sand in negotiations. He did it with Tyreek Hill and he did it with Chris Jones just this past offseason.

At the end of the day, it’s a business. Chris Jones has even acknowledged multiple times in the past few months that he may have played his last game as a Chief. Jones will likely command somewhere around $30 million per year again this offseason which he is well within his rights to do and that’s going to be a challenge for this front office to navigate regardless of who they decide to use the franchise tag on.

It remains to be seen how things will play out in the offseason, and the Chiefs have bigger fish to fry at the moment so it’s not something they’re too focused on right now, but it is reassuring to hear Brett Veach talk about how he views L’Jarius Sneed and Chris Jones in the franchises’ future.