Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid sticks up for defensive tackle Chris Jones during the toughest stretch of his career
The Kansas City Chiefs need more from Chris Jones, but he’s also being put in difficult situations.
Over the last ten years or so, the Kansas City Chiefs’ dynasty has been built on three players. Of course, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones have been the cornerstones. And they still are.
Mahomes will be the cornerstone until he retires, and that could be another ten years. Travis Kelce is nearing the end of his career. In fact, this could be Kelce’s last season. As for Chris Jones, many fans have asked the team to trade him and get something back while his value is still somewhat high.
He’s not been playing well, and the team has other needs. In fact, the last two weeks have been really, really bad for Jones. He didn’t even have a tackle this last week again’t the Denver Broncos after a bad game against the Seattle Seahawks. But head coach Andy Reid is not worried. He thinks Jones is still giving it his all.
Andy Reid stands up for Chris Jones after Broncos loss
“Yeah, well, listen, when you rush four, you want to get somebody home, obviously. That’s what (Defensive Line Coach) Joe (Cullen) strives for and the guys strive for and we’ve been doing a good job with getting pressure on. You’ve just got to get to the quarterback. We had a lot of blocked balls, which was great, you’ve got to be relatively close to get those. Especially if they’re intermediate throws, the trajectory of the ball is one that you’ve got to be relatively close (to) get a hand up to be able to block.
“But going back to (DT) Chris (Jones), I mean, Chris is giving his all. He’s doing everything he can do. He gets doubled from various angles. He’s going to draw a lot of attention, and so that’s an advantage to the other guys to have a chance to get themselves home. So, as much emphasis is put on Chris, let’s take advantage of that and get ourselves on the quarterback. So, not just to the quarterback, but on the quarterback.”
Chris Jones’ stats don’t quite tell the whole story
The numbers aren’t really there for Jones. He didn’t even have a tackle last week. Heck, running back Emmett Jones had a tackle. But he is being doubled a lot. And Jones is still getting pressure at times. But fans don’t always see those numbers. He is third on the team in pressures with 16, per Sports Info Solutions. For reference, R Mason Thomas leads him with 21 pressures, and George Karlaftis leads the team with 32. He had just one pressure on Bo Nix Sunday.
The Chiefs need help around him, so much so that teams are forced to double-team him. At the same time, he still has to play better. Sometimes he’s not double-teamed and doesn’t take advantage of it. They play the New York Jets next, and maybe that’s the game where we see him get things going.
