ESPN continues to release the results of Jeremy Fowler’s annual survey of NFL executives, coaches, and scouts.

Kenneth Walker made an appearance, and now we’ve got the first player on the defensive side of the ball. Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones was ranked the No. 4 defensive tackle in the NFL heading into 2026. It’s a drop from last season, when he was ranked No. 2. The highest vote he received was No. 1, and the lowest he received was No. 10. It goes to show that Jones, after a decade in the league, is one of the most polarizing players on the interior defensive line.

An anonymous NFL coordinator had this to say about Jones. It might sound bad, but it actually points to the exact reason fans should be excited about Jones in 2026.

“He’s still a guy you have to game-plan for, but you don’t feel him as much as you used to,” an NFL coordinator said. “He’s been one of the best for a long time.”

NFL decision makers are split on Chiefs DT Chris Jones

There’s no denying Jones’ history as an all-time great at the position. As ESPN’s article says, there’s a reason that Jones has made seven consecutive Pro Bowls and had three consecutive All-Pro nods from 2022 through 2024.

Jones faced plenty of scrutiny last season. He had a few standout moments in a negative way. In Week 1 against the Los Angeles Chargers in Brazil, he made a game-sealing mistake. He abandoned outside containment on Justin Herbert’s scramble-and-slide. Later in the season against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he caught flak for loafing on a Trevor Lawrence touchdown.

At the same time, when viewed in the full body of work, Jones was still a dominant force. Fowler pointed out that his 18.9% pass rush win rate was the best among interior defensive linemen. Jones also led the league in pass-rush wins when double-teamed (22) and led interior linemen in pressures (45).

So what gives here?

What seemed most apparent was that Jones, with 762 snaps in 2025, was on the field far too much. That’s the seventh-most defensive snaps for Kansas City (73%). The reason for that? The Chiefs couldn’t afford to take him off the field and struggled to generate any pressure on opposing quarterbacks without him.

Chris Jones will have more help during the 2026 NFL season

Jones can’t go it alone, and in 2026, it feels like he won’t have to.

Chiefs GM Brett Veach made a concerted effort to improve the team’s interior defensive line depth in 2026. They added Khyiris Tonga in free agency, fresh off a Super Bowl appearance. The team drafted Clemson DT Peter Woods at No. 29 overall. Second-year DT Omarr Norman-Lott is slated to return from a knee injury. They also have a number of undrafted players, such as Amari McNeill and Cole Brevard, who are helping raise competition at the bottom of the roster.

While the edge rusher position could stand to improve further, the competition in that room is also better than it was a season ago. You’ve got a second-year player with potential in Ashton Gillotte, a former first-round pick in Felix Anudike-Uzomah, and this year’s second-round choice in R Mason Thomas.

The hope is that defensive coordinators will have to game-plan for Jones and at least one or two more players on the defensive line. They didn’t have to do that a season ago. To stifle Jones was, for the most part, to stifle the Chiefs’ entire pass rush. Now, they’ve got a number of other pieces who can play off of Jones. They can reduce his snaps, but also make more of the snaps he does get when he is on the field. That’s because the supporting cast is that much better in 2026, at least on paper.