The Kansas City Chiefs will officially begin their defense of the Lombardi Trophy next week when they kick off training camp. In an ideal world, everyone on the roster would be in attendance, but that doesn’t sound like it will be the case for Kansas City.

Last week, Jeff Darlington of ESPN reported that there was optimism from the Chiefs that they would be able to work out an extension with star defensive tackle Chris Jones. The hope was that a deal would get done before training camp so that he would be present when veterans were slated to report on July 22nd.

There are still a few days for a deal to get done, but Chiefs head coach Andy Reid doesn’t sound overly optimistic that something will get done in time. In a recent press conference, he revealed that he isn’t sure whether Jones will have a new contract by Saturday or not.

“I don’t know that. I’ll have to just see how that goes,” Reid said in his press conference. “I mean, there’s communication going on. That’s the important part. And we just have to see.”

Getting an extension done with Jones is something that the Chiefs have been openly talking about throughout the offseason. It would not only ensure that they keep one of the best defensive tackles in the NFL long-term but would also open up some much-needed salary cap space.

That salary cap space could have been used to lure a player such as DeAndre Hopkins to the team. But, despite Hopkins opting to sign a deal with the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs’ motivation to get a deal done with Jones remains the same.

Jones is coming off of another dominant season in which he recorded 15.5 sacks, 17 tackles for loss and 29 quarterback hits. He finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting, earning an All-Pro First-Team and Pro Bowl nod. With Quinnen Williams upping the bar for defensive tackles with his extension, talks could now pick up with Jones as he could now have a concrete number he’d like the Chiefs to meet.