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• I do get it.
Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback. Travis Kelce gets the ball and is dating Taylor Swift.
There are reasons why the third piece of the core off which Andy Reid and Brett Veach have built the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty doesn’t get the credit he deserves. But I’ll try to put a stop to it here—and tell you not only that Chris Jones should be your leader in the clubhouse for Defensive Player of the Year, he’s also been as important to Kansas City’s 6–0 start as anyone.
If stats are what you’re into, you might disagree. Jones has 12 tackles and three sacks through six games. But once you dig in, and talk to those who are actually evaluating what Jones is doing on tape, a different picture emerges, one in which the Chiefs’ five-time All-Pro impacts every snap he plays. And that adds up to a lot, since he’s playing an outsized number of them (he’s been in on 80% of the team’s defensive snaps through six games) for a 30-year-old interior defensive lineman.
If you need numbers to back it up, here’s one analytical look at Jones’s impact …
Bottom line: Creating that level of havoc makes everyone better, and Jones’s teammates will tell you that, too.
“It’s understanding work ethic, a guy who believes in the team. He did an interview not too long ago talking about whether we wanted to have a DPOY award or win another Super Bowl, and he’s all in on the Super Bowl along with the rest of us,” veteran safety Justin Reid told me Sunday. “That’s just the culture that we have here. It allows all of us to continue to push and believe in each other. Chris is having a phenomenal year.
“He attracts so much attention that not only is he still making plays himself, he’s allowing other guys to make plays because he’s getting double-, triple-teamed and guys are getting one-on-ones and free shots at the quarterback. It can’t be overstated, his impact on the game week-in and week-out.”
And if Jones only cares about the team’s record, like Reid says, then he’s getting his reward.
But he sure does deserve more than just that.
