Can Chris Jones really lead the NFL in sacks in 2018?

Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones says his goal is to lead the NFL in sacks in 2018. Is that even possible?

It’s impossible not to love Chris Jones.

Ever since the 6’6, 310 pound defensive tackle first landed with the Kansas City Chiefs as a second round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, he’s looked the part as a dominant anchor in the trenches—so much so that the Chiefs decided Dontari Poe was expendable because they could build around someone like Jones.

Heading into his third year, Jones sounds like a man possessed—or at least crazy. When asked by reporters about his goals for the coming NFL season, he had a very clear idea in mind from Friday’s practice. We’ll let him take it from here:

"I’ve been talking about it all summer. 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 wasn’t an immediate revelation for the Chiefs, but it did only take the Mississippi State product half a season or so to find his footing. During the second half of his rookie campaign, Jones showed why the Chiefs got a second round steal with flashes of disruptive play that earned him comparisons to the NFL’s best interior linemen. While it wasn’t all there, it was clear that John Dorsey’s vision for Jones could be seen at the next level.

Entering his second year, consistency was the name of the game for Jones and he provided just that. Over the course of 16 games, Jones became more of a factor in offensive game planning as opposing coordinators had to factor in how Jones can cause such interference at the line before a play can even develop. Jones ended the year with 4 forced fumbles, 6.5 sacks, 32 total tackles. Jones also batted down 7 passes at the line of scrimmage and even his first career interception, showing an impressive awareness for tracking the ball.

Now, however, Jones sounds like a man ready to take a serious leap forward. The Chiefs would likely be happy with another season like last year, but the truth is that Jones’s ceiling is as high as he wants. Which makes his “I wanna lead the NFL in sacks” declaration as a real possibility. It doesn’t sound reasonable for a defensive lineman who will sometimes work from the interior to earn such stats, but if any player can, it’s Chris Jones.

Jones already sounds like he’s well ahead of conditioning efforts in previous years, which is good to hear because he now has two years of experience to know the sort of stamina it takes to play well for the rigors of a full season.

Just dominated 15 1/2 gassers...
1st time in 2yrs, this is going to be special.
— Chris Jones (@StoneColdJones) July 26, 2018

We can take this as partial evidence that Jones might actually be serious about his goals. If he knows that it requires a truly special amount of stamina to dominate at that level for 16 games plus any postseason hopes, Jones sounds like he’s already come in ready with that goal. He wasn’t a man waiting for training camp to sort things out. He came in ready to race with his aims clearly stated.

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Last season, Jones’s sack totals also came in bursts. He had 3 of his 6.5 sacks in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles, as the team clearly did not have an answer for Jones in the middle. From there, Jones was unable to get after the passer for the next 10 games, save for a single half sack against the Houston Texans in Week 5. It wasn’t until the last month of the season that things came together for Jones on the stat sheet with three sacks in his last four games.

Of course, we all know that reading a box score is an inaccurate way to tell what’s happening but Pro Football Focus gives us some metrics to at least see that he’s getting better at getting after the quarterback. Among interior line defenders, Jones ranked No. 12 overall per PFF, but he was the 9th highest graded pass rusher of the lot and had 38 total quarterback pressures. Through two years, he has 80 pressures and 21 quarterback hits/sacks. Those are nice totals.

The difference between a sack and a pressure is minimal—measured in milliseconds—which means that it wouldn’t be hard for Jones to turn up those numbers if things go the right way. If he’s that much quicker, if he’s that much more able to dominate in the fourth quarter due to increased stamina, then gaining a few more sacks, or even several, is not out of the question. Can he lead the league? It’s hard to say, but no one should even try to say at this point what Jones cannot do.

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