How will the Arizona Cardinals franchise Chandler Jones?

The Arizona Cardinals are going to keep Chandler Jones come hell or high water. He will be an Arizona Cardinal for the 2017 NFL season.

The question becomes, will it be on a long term contract or will it be playing on the franchise tag?

If the Arizona Cardinals decide on the franchise tag, the designation of what position Jones plays will be interesting to watch.

The franchise tags look to be set, based on numbers from ESPN:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/ari/arizona-cardinals

The designation of a linebacker is going to cost the Arizona Cardinals about $15.3 million.

You can imagine if Jones plays on the tag, his agent will be pushing for that tag to be a defensive end, as it will bump his pay up to roughly $16.99 million in 2017.

While the Cardinals run a 34 defense, Jones lines up in passing situations as a defensive end, with his hand in the dirt quite a bit.

It will be interesting to watch, because we know the Arizona Cardinals would like to sign Jones to an extension, but if they go the franchise route, you can bet they want to get that number in the $15.3 million range and not be over $16.99 million.

It should be fun to watch.