{"id":52697,"date":"2025-06-01T08:37:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T08:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697"},"modified":"2025-06-01T08:37:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T08:37:26","slug":"chiefs-star-given-position-groups-top-prize-by-pff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1992956036-e1748744329615.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1992956036-e1748744329615.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1992956036-e1748744329615.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-1992956036-e1748744329615.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs in the lead up to Super Bowl LIX, February 2025\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"146\" data-dom-ready-time=\"199\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs in the lead up to Super Bowl LIX, February 2025<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0have numerous \u201cblue chip\u201d type players who serve as some of the best at their respective positions \u2013\u00a0Patrick Mahomes,\u00a0Trent McDuffie,\u00a0Creed Humphrey.<\/p>\n<p>But \u2013 outside of Mahomes, there is no single player that makes as much of a catastrophic impact on the opposing defenses as interior defensive lineman,\u00a0Chris Jones.<\/p>\n<p>Jones signed a five year, $158 million blockbuster extension last offseason \u2013 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.<\/p>\n<p>And the folks at Pro Football Focus have noticed this, and as such they have bestowed upon him the title of the league\u2019s best interior defensive lineman going into this upcoming season.<\/p>\n<h2>Chris Jones Labelled The Best Interior Defensive Lineman In The NFL<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWhat 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\u00a0PFF WAR over the past three years is by far the most among interior defenders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Future first-ballot Hall of Famer is not a term normally thrown around lightly \u2013 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJones has already put together a Hall of Fame career at age 29 while seemingly getting better with age. He\u2019s 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\u2019s defensive performance finally caught up to the team\u2019s offensive brilliance.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What Does The Chiefs Defensive Line Look Like Heading Into 2025<\/h2>\n<p>It is not totally clear how the Chiefs will look to replace the recently departed\u00a0Derrick Nnadi\u00a0and\u00a0Tershawn Wharton\u00a0on the interior of their defensive line next to Jones, but they always seem to find a way to keep that group competitive \u2013 especially when the 3 x All-Pro is on the field.<\/p>\n<p>34 year old veteran,\u00a0Mike Pennel, and second round draft pick,\u00a0Omar 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.<\/p>\n<p>At defensive end, the depth chart looks a litte more murky after stud edge rusher,\u00a0George Karlaftis. Former first round pick,\u00a0Felix Anudike-Uzomah, has managed just 3 sacks in his first two seasons, whilst\u00a0Mike Danna\u00a0is a picture of consistency rather than spectacularity. The unit\u2019s success could well much depend on what we see from both Norman-Lott and Anudike-Uzomah this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs in the lead up to Super Bowl LIX, February 2025 The\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0have numerous \u201cblue chip\u201d type players who&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs in the lead up to Super Bowl LIX, February 2025 The\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0have numerous \u201cblue chip\u201d type players who...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T08:37:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"494\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"356\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697\",\"name\":\"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.. - 24\/7 News America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-01T08:37:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-01T08:37:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg\",\"width\":494,\"height\":356},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF..\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"24\/7 News America\",\"description\":\"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914\",\"name\":\"Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.. - 24\/7 News America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.. - 24\/7 News America","og_description":"Getty Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs in the lead up to Super Bowl LIX, February 2025 The\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0have numerous \u201cblue chip\u201d type players who...","og_url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697","og_site_name":"24\/7 News America","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T08:37:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":494,"height":356,"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697","name":"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.. - 24\/7 News America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-01T08:37:26+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T08:37:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Screenshot-2025-01-20-111732.jpg","width":494,"height":356},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=52697#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chiefs Star Given Position Group\u2019s Top Prize By PFF.."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/","name":"24\/7 News America","description":"Breaking Stories, Real Insights&quot;","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/4fd584257b8aaef08c4e2bc73ee6a914","name":"Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Admin"},"url":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52701,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52697\/revisions\/52701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}