The Kansas City Chiefs have numerous “blue chip” type players who serve as some of the best at their respective positions – Patrick Mahomes, Trent McDuffie, Creed Humphrey.
But – outside of Mahomes, there is no single player that makes as much of a catastrophic impact on the opposing defenses as interior defensive lineman, Chris Jones.
Jones signed a five year, $158 million blockbuster extension last offseason – worth just over $30 million/year, and followed that up with a statistical-down year that did not reflect the continuing excellent work he was doing.
And the folks at Pro Football Focus have noticed this, and as such they have bestowed upon him the title of the league’s best interior defensive lineman going into this upcoming season.
Chris Jones Labelled The Best Interior Defensive Lineman In The NFL
“What more is there to say about Chris Jones? The future first-ballot Hall of Famer was once again the highest-graded interior defender in the NFL in 2024 (90.2). That makes it 88.0-plus marks in seven of his nine NFL seasons. His 1.69 PFF WAR over the past three years is by far the most among interior defenders.”
Future first-ballot Hall of Famer is not a term normally thrown around lightly – particularly for non quarterbacks. But for Jones it feels completely justified, even if he has slightly flown under the radar during much of the course of his nine year career in Kansas City.
Even before another great season in 2024, where he once again made the first team All-Pro for the third straight year, Bleacher Report had some excellent things to say about him upon signing his new deal in March 2024.
“Jones has already put together a Hall of Fame career at age 29 while seemingly getting better with age. He’s made the Pro Bowl each of the last five seasons and was a first-team All-Pro in each of the last two, emerging as a dominant force in the middle for the Chiefs. The Mississippi State product racked up 30 tackles and 10.5 sacks in 2023 as Kansas City’s defensive performance finally caught up to the team’s offensive brilliance.”
What Does The Chiefs Defensive Line Look Like Heading Into 2025
It is not totally clear how the Chiefs will look to replace the recently departed Derrick Nnadi and Tershawn Wharton on the interior of their defensive line next to Jones, but they always seem to find a way to keep that group competitive – especially when the 3 x All-Pro is on the field.
34 year old veteran, Mike Pennel, and second round draft pick, Omar Norman-Lott, will seek to be the answer at nose tackle, whilst the team also added Jerry Tillery as a backup to Jones at the 3-technique spot.
At defensive end, the depth chart looks a litte more murky after stud edge rusher, George Karlaftis. Former first round pick, Felix Anudike-Uzomah, has managed just 3 sacks in his first two seasons, whilst Mike Danna is a picture of consistency rather than spectacularity. The unit’s success could well much depend on what we see from both Norman-Lott and Anudike-Uzomah this season.
