Chris Jones makes dramatic return just in time for Chiefs vs Ravens

The Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens were both missing their best defensive linemen as they arrived at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. But at least the Chiefs' knew their hero in the trenches was arriving late.

In what has been a bit of an online game before the game on social media, and a rather unnerving one at that, Chiefs Kingdom has been tracking Chris Jones on Sunday as he makes his way back to the team following a quick and tragic detour to be with his family during a time of loss.

Jones spent part of his weekend at a funeral with his family back in Mississippi, which forced the team to include his potential absence on the Chiefs' injury report as a non-injury designation. Per Matt Derrick, the inclusion was in case of travel issues getting back to K.C.

As it turns out, fans have been following his progress on Sunday afternoon with the sort of play-by-play that shows just how valuable he is to the defense. You can see the updates below from both national reporters, like Tracy Wolfson, and K.C. media as well.

The Chiefs are already looking potentially thin up front with the absence of Mike Danna on the edges. He's been sitting with a quad injury since Week 2, and he sat out Week 3 entirely against the New York Giants. He was trending toward playing, at least from the outside looking in, as a full participant in practice on Thursday, but he was downgraded to doubtful heading into the game.

As Jones makes his way back to Arrowhead, his arrival will be a major tilt in the trenches against the Ravens, who are missing several members of the defensive front. Broderick Jones, Travis Jones, and Nnamdi Madubuike are all sitting out of Week 4, along with linebacker Kyle Van Noy, which means Baltimore is going to have to get creative when trying to disrupt Patrick Mahomes.

Jones finally joined his friends in K.C.'s locker room less than 30 minutes before the start of the game, so it's possible he'll need a bit of time before being ready to take the field. But Chiefs fans can breathe easy knowing the detour eventually led him back for Week 4.