KC Chiefs: Will we see Ronald Jones anytime soon?

Will the Kansas City Chiefs turn to Ronald Jones anytime soon to strengthen their short-yardage game?

Right now, Ronald Jones is not where most of us thought he would be—likely including himself. The Kansas City Chiefs running back is, at the present hour, sitting and waiting on the team’s practice squad through the first two weeks of the regular season. When signed in free agency six months ago, this cannot be what anyone expected.

Of course, no player deserves to have an opportunity gifted to them and it’s doubtful that Jones would ever expect such treatment. It’s just that the odd rollercoaster ride during the Chiefs’ offseason and preseason inflated and deflated the stock of Jones from one extreme of taking Clyde Edwards-Helaire’s role as lead back to another of not making the roster at all.

Not that anyone should be complaining about where the Chiefs are at these days. They opened the season with an overwhelming win over the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale to start the season and then came home to withstand a tough effort from the L.A. Chargers on a short week. At present, they’re 2-0 and alone in first place in the AFC West with 10 days to rest for a road trip to Indianapolis. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to improve for the Chiefs and the short-yardage game might be one such area.

The Chiefs converted an incredible six of six opportunities in the red zone against the Cards in Week 1, but even then, they didn’t run it near the goal line when they could have. Instead, Edwards-Helaire caught two short passes for touchdowns as the Chiefs made quick work of the Arizona defense.

This past week, the Chiefs only converted one-third of their red zone chances against the Bolts. If you’ll remember a specific sequence at the end of the third quarter, the Chiefs had the ball at the goal line and Jerick McKinnon was stuffed on first down. From there, the Chiefs tried two short passes, one to tight end Jody Fortson and another to Travis Kelce, and failed before summoning Ammendola to kick a chip shot to tie it. Given that they began at the 3-yard line and were stalled at the 1, it’s embarrassing that it could have made the difference in such an important game.

What makes things even more curious is, at this point, the Chiefs are also going without injured tight end Blake Bell, a solid blocker who has been a short-yardage option himself. His presence in multiple ways helps the Chiefs in such scenarios, but he’s out with an “unusual” hip injury.

What we’ve seen through two games is that, even when successful, the Chiefs don’t trust their backs to crash through the line to move the chains. Clyde Edwards-Helaire isn’t even getting an opportunity and McKinnon didn’t get it done. Isiah Pacheco is only cleaning up in garbage time to this point, so it’s hard to say whether he could be a difference maker there.

It makes sense at some point for the Chiefs to see what Jones can add, especially in games that will be so close, because shrugging at 7 to go for 3 is a big difference at times. We can only speculate, however, when Jones’ chance will come.