Chris Jones could soon be turning his breakout 2018 season into a huge pay raise, based on a report from the Kansas City Star.

Jones and his representation are in the middle of negotiations with the Chiefs on a contract extension, the Star reported Thursday. Jones is eligible for his first NFL contract extension this offseason, and the Chiefs seem set to try to work something out over the next few months.

“There’s a lot of time to go before the season starts, and he’s certainly a guy that we’ve targeted and would love to get done,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said, per the Star. “The conversations have started. I wouldn’t say they are heating up at a rapid pace, but you’ve got to start somewhere. We’ve had two to three of these conversations and they’re getting better.”

A native of Houston, Mississippi, Jones (6-6, 310, 24 years old) joined the Chiefs in 2016 as a second-round draft pick out of Mississippi State, where he had 102 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 18 tackles for loss, and 10 passes defensed in three seasons before entering the NFL Draft as a junior. He had 28 tackles and two sacks in 16 games (11 starts) as a rookie in 2016 and followed that up with 32 tackles, 6.5 sacks, seven passes defensed, one interception, and four forced fumbles in 2017.

Jones made a big leap in 2018, totaling a team-high 15.5 sacks with 40 tackles, two forced fumbles, five passes defensed, one interception, and one touchdown. He also put together a streak of 11 consecutive games with a sack, which was the highest mark since the NFL began tracking sacks as a statistic in 1982. Jones, who won second-team All-Pro honors for his performance in 2018, told reporters before the season he had a goal of leading the league in sacks.

"I’ve been talking about it all summer," Jones said in July of 2018, per Chiefs.com. "I’ve been voicing it to my teammates. I want to lead the NFL in sacks. I believe that wholeheartedly. You have to speak it to believe it.”

Jones fell short of that goal, finishing third behind Aaron Donald of the Los Angeles Rams (20.5) and J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans (16). Inexplicably he was overlooked for the Pro Bowl, which is something Watt took exception to when speaking to reporters in December.

"You look at Chris Jones from the Chiefs," Watt said. "I mean he’s a defensive tackle with 14 sacks. How you don’t make the Pro Bowl with that, I mean that kind of right there tells you all you need to know about the weight you should put into that."

Jones is also the type of person the Chiefs would love to have representing their organization in the future off the field, as evidenced by the work he plans to be doing with the Special Olympics. His extension won't come cheap, but it's easy to understand why the Chiefs are putting a priority on getting a deal done.