Winning will be costly for K.C.

INDIANAPOLIS — No one is feeling sorry for the Chiefs in the middle of a dynasty. But general manager Brett Veach is in a difficult spot with two marquee free agents — defensive tackle Chris Jones and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed — and only one franchise tag at his disposal, meaning he needs to get at least one contract extension done before March 13 to keep both defensive cornerstones off the open market. “It’s tough because the more you win, the more you have to pay players, and obviously when you have this amount of success you are paying a lot of players a lot of money,” Veach said. “Certainly want to do what we can to try to keep both those players. We do have one tag, and I anticipate probably using it to help us, but I think our goal is to get both those players [resigned] and then work down the rest of our roster.” The solution could be to keep Jones and trade the AllPro snub Sneed just two years after Sneed replaced 2023 Pro Bowler Charvarius Ward as the team’s top CB.

The Chiefs informed Sneed he could be tagged as a placeholder to make a trade if no long-term extension is agreed upon, according to ESPN. Sneed is agreeable to the scenario, which then gives Jones more leverage in his negotiations because the Chiefs cannot tag him for a second straight season.

➤ The Patriots’ remodel even includes revamping the draft evaluation process left behind by former head coach and de facto general manager Bill Belichick.

“We changed the grading system,” said director of scouting Eliot Wolf, whose father is Hall of Famer and former Packers general manager Ron Wolf. “It’s a little bit more similar to what we did in Green Bay. The previous Patriots system was more, ‘This is what the role is,’ and [ours] is more kind of valuebased.”

➤ Ravens GM Eric DeCosta called receiver Odell Beckham Jr. a “great friend” but stopped short of committing to re-signing the freeagent receiver after he failed to live up to his one-year, $15 million contract.

“I think we’ll just kind of assess and see what happens over the next couple of weeks,” DeCosta said.

Eagles center Jason Kelce and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox — who are second and third, respectively, in franchise history in games played — both are thought to be contemplating retirement. The decisions won’t be rushed.

“We’ll wait and give them whatever time and space they need,” GM Howie Roseman said. “The important thing from our perspective is you never want to see them wearing different colors.”