Kansas City Chiefs: Chris Jones Unleashed
By Britt Zank
If you were watching the Kansas City Chiefs victory over the Oakland Raiders this past Sunday, you couldn’t have missed rookie Chris Jones.
Unless you were a draft nut, you had most likely never heard of Chris Jones before the 2016 NFL Combine. He became somewhat infamous at the combine after he had a slight wardrobe malfunction when running the 40 yard dash. Well I guess it’s slight if you consider a 6-foot-6, 310-pound man’s shorts falling exposing him to the world. He fell to the ground, fixed his shorts and hoped up with the biggest smile ever because what else can you do but laugh at that point?
He shook that off to have a solid combine and pro-day which had the Chiefs excited about drafting him with the 37th-overall pick in the draft. However, I don’t think any draft pick showed more excitement about being drafted than Jones was. He bounced on stage & hugged Roger Goodell like nobody in the draft ever has. He had the smile and enthusiasm of a child that a lot of players these days are lacking.
Since then, that smile and enthusiasm has not wavered one bit. You can even hear it during his interviews; he is one of the few players these days who just has fun playing a kids game. The only other player I can compare him to in this way isn’t even a football player, it’s Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals. I believe they’d both play the games for free just as long as they got to play.
I warn opposing offenses though, do not take this childlike enthusiasm to mean he’s a pushover. Like Perez, when Jones gets on the field he’s all business. Starting in the preseason, Jones showed flashes that he could be the steal of the draft like Marcus Peters was in 2015. Against Oakland on Sunday, Jones showed that those flashes have turned into fact.
Jones blew up a running play before it even started and was in the face of Derek Carr many times. Jones showed all the moves you want to see from an interior defensive lineman. He can bull rush a lineman into the quarterbacks lap, he can shoot a gap almost taking the handoff from the quarterback and using his hands to get around a double team.
He will get to show all of this skills a lot more often going forward as well. Defensive lineman Allen Bailey has been placed on IR this week, effectively ending his season. While I hate to see a good guy and player like Bailey go down, it does open the door for the Chiefs to give Jones the full time reps he deserves. This could be a large boost for a Chiefs defense that is in desperate need of a pass rush.
With Jones playing next to Dontari Poe, the Chiefs should become much better at blowing up the interior of opposing offensive lines. I don’t see an offense being able to double team both Jones & Poe and I don’t see many lineman being able to block either one on one. Once the middle of the line starts collapsing the pocket, it will push the quarterback back into the outside rush attacks of Tamba Hali and Dee Ford.
Ford’s only move is an outside speed rush that only works if the quarterback is pushed back and Hali’s old body makes him stay to the outside as well. If a quarterback steps up to avoid the outside rush he’ll be met by Jones or Poe, if he steps back from those two he’ll get blindsided by Ford or Hali. It’s the rush combination that the Chiefs have been looking for all season.
if I’m still not painting a rosy enough picture for you, just remember that Justin Houston should be back soon. The Chiefs defense appears to be turning into a horror movie for opposing offensives right before eyes. Like a creepy doll with a low voice use to say, “I want to play a game!”