Chris Jones has been a dominant force for the Kansas City Chiefs since his breakout third season in 2018. Jones put up 15.5 sacks that season and has been viewed as one of the premier interior defensive linemen in the NFL ever since. That's eight consecutive seasons as one of the NFL's best defensive tackles. Jones is now 32 years old, and through the first three games of his 11th NFL season, he has been relatively quiet. The question is whether this slow start is the result of an injury or if age is finally starting to catch up to KC's defensive star.
Sacks can be an inconsistent stat when trying to evaluate a pass rusher. Yes, it is the ultimate goal, but oftentimes whether a pressure turns into a sack depends more on how the opposing offense and quarterback handle pressure than how good the defender is at applying it. That is why pressures or pressure rate can be a better way to tell if a pass rusher is doing his job than sacks. We can look at a couple of Jones' seasons as a perfect example of this.
In 2022, Jones averaged 4.5 pressures per game and had a pressure rate (percentage of pass rush reps that resulted in a pressure) of 12.4%. Two years later, in 2024, he averaged 4.9 pressures per game and had a 13.6% pressure rate. So Jones got slightly more consistent pressure in 2024, yet he had 15.5 sacks in 2022 and just 5 in 2024.
Just how good has Chris Jones been?
So let's take a look at Jones sack and pressure numbers over the past five seasons to get a baseline of where he's been at to compare his production this season to.
- 2021 - 4.6 pressures/game, 14.9% pressure rate, 9 sacks
- 2022 - 4.5 pressures/game, 12.4% pressure rate, 15.5 sacks
- 2023 - 4.7 pressues/game, 15.6% pressure rate, 10.5 sacks
- 2024 - 4.9 pressures/game, 13.6% pressure rate, 5 sacks
- 2025 - 3.7 pressures/game, 12.8% pressure rate, 7 sacks
So Jones did experience a bit of a drop-off in his pressures per game last season, but you can see that his pressure rate was still in the same neighborhood as the previous four seasons. However, if you look at his numbers through the first three games this season, you can see a bigger decline.
- 2026 - 2.7 pressures/game, 9.8% pressure rate, 0 sacks
Granted, it's still early in the season, but thus far, Jones' pressures and pressure rate are well below his recent averages, and he hasn't recorded a sack yet. He did get a key pass deflection this past week that turned into a George Karlaftis interception, but it was still a disappointing day for the Chiefs' pass rush, which looked poised to take advantage of a struggling Dolphins offensive line.
Is Jones' calf injury to blame?
The important question here is whether this decline is due to injury or just the natural physical decline that eventually catches up with all NFL players. Jones has been nursing a calf injury early in the season that could be affecting his explosiveness. Anyone who has watched Jones' career knows that many of his pressures and/or sacks have come on plays where his explosive first step has him blowing by interior offensive linemen before they are even fully out of their stance. If Jones' calf injury is zapping him of that elite trait, it could definitely explain his decline in pressures forced.
Unfortunately, even if it is injury-related, there is no guarantee that he'll suddenly rebound to his old self at some point. As NFL players get older, it often takes longer for their bodies to bounce back from injuries, especially if they are trying to play through them. The Chiefs don't want to have to play without Jones, so he continues to put the strain of playing in the NFL on that calf while trying to get back to full strength.
The Chiefs can't afford a diminished Chris Jones
The Chiefs desperately need Chris Jones to still be a quality interior pass rusher. Even if he doesn't ever get back to his 15-sack-season level, having someone who can consistently apply pressure up the middle is a huge asset, especially when their edge rushers aren't elite pass rushers. If guys like George Karlaftis, R. Mason Thomas, Ashton Gillotte, and Felix Anudike-Uzomah are going to combine to give KC less than one sack per game, they can't afford for Jones to become just an average interior pass rusher.
Jones has finished as one of Pro Football Focus' top four graded interior pass rushers each of the past five seasons, but through the first three games, he's just their 23rd-rated interior pass rusher. So their grade matches his decline in raw pressure numbers. That's not going to cut it, especially if the outside rushers aren't going to be especially great at getting home.
Hopefully, this is just a slow start caused by a nagging calf injury that Jones will eventually bounce back from, but at some point, if this issue lingers, it will be fair to ask if this is truly just an injury issue or a sign of the inevitable physical decline that comes with playing in the NFL for as long as Jones has. Chiefs fans have to be hoping that he'll get right and return to harassing NFL quarterbacks again. There is no question that Chris Jones is an all-time great Kansas City Chief and likely has a strong case for the Hall of Fame, but the question of whether he is still an elite player in 2026 is going to need some more time to answer.
Add us as a preferred source on Google