The Impact of Chris Jones on a Deep and Wide DL – The Kansas City Chiefs have a defensive line that could be better in 2020 than it was in their Super Bowl LIV winning season. If that happens, you can make your plans now for another parade in February of 2021 (assuming the pandemic allows for those kinds of gatherings by then). BTW… that last comment was meant to be more funny than tragic. Let’s hope for the former.
The big fly in that ointment of course has to do with whether or not Brett Veach can tie DT Chris Jones to a long term deal by 3:00PM (CST) tomorrow. By saying that, I’m not doubting the teaching skills of Defensive Line coach extraordinaire, Brendan Daly, but an artist can only sculpt a Michelangelo if they aren’t first hogtied, and that’s essentially what Veach would be doing to Daly if he doesn’t get Stone Cold Jones re-signed.
Some of you may be thinking, “Yeah, but isn’t Jones going to play under the Franchise Tag in 2020?” Well, I’m less certain of that, than I’ve ever been. With Jones’ close ties to Le’Veon Bell — who did sit out a year even though it meant losing money in the process — it looks like Jones is seriously considering taking the year off. Consider this comment from Le’Veon Bell just two weeks ago:
In recent days we’ve heard — thank God — that Brett Veach and company have begun talking with Chris Jones camp about doing a deal. That’s news because there have been no talks for months prior. Of course, that doesn’t seem unreasonable considering the deal the Chiefs just dished out to Patrick Mahomes II on Monday of last week. The fact that the Chiefs are now in discussions with Jones supports the idea that they know he has to be re-signed if they hope to #runitback.
So, who is there on the roster who could step in and step up… if Jones doesn’t reach an agreement with K.C.? The rotation is deep and wide with Jones on the roster. The hole he leaves behind, if not re-signed, is mammoth. Mammoth for good reason.
Defensive Line Rotation
Defensive End
With Frank Clark and Alex Okafor as starters, the Chiefs offer as solid a pair of DEs vs the run as there are in the league. However, both the Broncos — with Von Miller and Bradley Chubb — and the Chargers — with Melvin Ingram and Joey Bosa — post superior pass rushers. After that, the second wave of DEs the Chiefs offer in Tanoh Kpassagnon — who is in a contract year — and Taco Charlton — who the Chiefs signed to a one-year $825,000 deal — give K.C. a pair with a high upside and a possible disaster in waiting ability. However, with rookie Mike Danna, 3rd year man Breeland Speaks (who I am high on), Demone Harris and Tim Ward waiting on deck, it appears Brendan Daly has plenty of clay to work with for creating his masterpiece. At least at Defensive End.
Defensive Tackle
With Derrick Nnadi and Mike Pennel returning, the necessary ingredients are there for a solid run stopping interior to the defensive line. Also ready to step into the DT rotation are 2nd year man Khalen Saunders — who acquitted himself nicely in the second half of 2019 — and Braxton Hoyett. Although both Hoyett and Saunders will seemingly never provide the dominance that the 6-foot-6 Jones provides against the pass — simply because Saunders is 6-foot-0 and Hoyett is 6-foot-2 and neither will provide the ability to knock down passes like CJ — they could provide the proper run stopping punch. However, contrary to popular belief, Chris Jones is good against the run.
With Chris Jones on the field, the Chiefs not only don’t suffer in the run game, they dominate with one of the best pass rushers in the league, from the interior.
Although I think Jones is the second best DT in the league behind Aaron Donald, even if you accept the idea that he is 4th in the league… that places him in elite company. By the way, the 3-technique is when a DL lines up on the outside shoulder of a OG and the 5-technique is when a DL lines up on the outside shoulder of the OT. Jones excels at both and one of the reasons he may be seeking a bigger contract than the Chiefs have been willing to fork over is because that 5-technique role is one that is typically played by the Defensive End and Defensive Ends are paid much more than DTs in the NFL. In Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, front 7 DLs and LBs are often interchangeable… which is what makes his attacking style defense so hard to deal with.
The Chris Jones Difference
To recognize the dramatic difference that Chris Jones presence on the field can have, look first at what happens when he’s not there. Offensive lines can roll a double-team over to Frank Clark then match-up with every other defensive lineman for the Chiefs and they’d even have an extra OL to stop any Spags blitz he may be sending. In that case, the Chiefs would be relying on one of those defensive linemen, who are not being doubled, to make a play and beat their man. If they don’t, the Chiefs are sunk… on any given play, be it a running play or a passing play.
With Chris Jones on the field, teams have to double CJ and double Frank Clark, thereby leaving the other Chiefs Defensive linemen to bust through open holes but with CJ it makes their jobs much easier. That’s one reason why I think Derrick Nnadi had a very good year in 2019 and his progress could continue if Jones is back. The combination of Frank Clark along with Chris Jones makes attacking the Chiefs DL one fraught with problems for other teams. Without Chris Jones? Not so much.
This shows how Chris Jones makes everyone around him better — which is what good players do — specifically along the DL, when he’s on the field.
The same might be said of CJ when paired with Terrell Suggs… if not in perception only. When Suggs was signed late in the season, other teams offenses had to plan for Suggs while also dealing with the legitimate threat that Chris Jones provided. Suggs, of course, was more than a perceptual threat, he created another challenge to deal with for offensive coordinators and OL… which in turn made Chris Jones impact even more prevalent. If you take Chris Jones out of this equation — and because it looks like Suggs has hung up his cleats for good — then the challenge of dealing with the Chiefs DL becomes a much less painless proposition.
The next stat I’ll share is one I’ve done before with Justin Houston. In 2014, when Houston recorded 22 sacks in 1032 snaps, he had one sack every 49.9 snaps. Here’s how the Chiefs defensive line came out in 2019, compared to Aaron Donald, who is touted by most as the best interior defender in the NFL:
Here, Chris Jones has a point to make. Sure, a defensive lineman’s value is connected to more than just sacks alone, but with Jones recording a better snaps-to-sacks ratio (the lower the number the better) than Frank Clark, it begs the question: are sacks which come from the edge more valuable than sacks which come straight up the middle? One could argue that sacks up the middle are even more valuable than sacks off the edge. You know… the old, “The shortest distance between two objects is a straight line”… argument. In many respects, Jones and Clark had similar stats in 2019. They both had 4 passes defensed, one had 8.0 sacks and the other had 9.0 sacks, Clark had a fumble recovery and Jones had a fumble recovery. The only place Clark’s stats stood out was in the 4 forced fumbles he created, while Jones had but one.
The above chart should give Chiefs fans high hopes for the return of Alex Okafor too! He was having a very good year before he went out with a torn pectoral muscle (which I hear he’s recovering from quite nicely). Oh yeah, if you’re about to say that you were sorry to see Emmanuel Ogbah leave, I can second that emotion.
Chris Jones Impact Summary
If the Kansas City Chiefs defense is destined to be a Top Five defense in 2020, that will depend a great deal on whether or not they can re-sign Chris Jones to a long term contract. Jones regular season value may be hard for some to measure but his contribution to the Chiefs Super Bowl victory was immense.
Soren Petro on Sports Radio 810 WHB said last week, that the Chiefs kept claiming that the Patrick Mahomes deal would allow them to continue to re-sign top talent, but that they never really said just exactly how that was true with his huge contract. I would tend to agree. However, if Chris Jones is re-signed, it increases the possibility they will be heading to Raymond James Stadium, in Tampa Bay, on February 7 of 2021, ten fold. Or at least, Top Five fold.
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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