How the Kansas City Chiefs will determine where to deploy Chris Jones on the D-line
Chris Jones has a home on the Chiefs defensive line, but its address is constantly changing.
And that reality won’t change.
Even as the Chiefs have become healthy on their defensive line, they still plan to shift Jones back and forth between defensive tackle and the edge, a plan that played out last week in Las Vegas.
“It’s like a chess match, week in and week out,” Jones said. “Putting me in the best place so I can set up this defense to win.”
After playing the three-technique most of his NFL career, the Chiefs thought they’d try Jones on the edge in 2021, a plan he fully embraced with weight loss, yoga and Pilates. After a pair of sacks in the opener, though, his production dipped, coinciding with torn ligaments in his wrist.
As Frank Clark returned to the lineup on the edge and the Chiefs later added veteran Melvin Ingram, Jones moved back to the interior, where he’s dominated like his old self in wins against the Giants and Packers.
But it didn’t stick. Instead, it was a surprising move back to the edge in Las Vegas last week. If you’re searching for consistency in the Chiefs’ preferred lineups, in other words, you won’t find it on the defensive line.
“I think each week there’s some different things to consider, and there’s never one solid reason in terms of where he’s going to go and how we’re going to deploy that,” said Brendan Daly, the Chiefs defensive line coach. “You try to make the decision (based on) what do we need to do to win this game, how do we best utilize the personnel that we’ve got available to do that. I say there are different reasons week to week.”
And those factors?
“Whether it be the run game, the pass game, what the team does protection-wise. Maybe it’s a matchup on one end or the other,” Daly said “So that’s kind of an ongoing process that changes.”
It will change from week to week. Or it could even change within a week, as Jones and his coaches — Daly and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo — have ongoing conversations.
Jones has three sacks in eight games this season, after 7 1/2 in 2020, 9 in 2019 and 15 1/2 in 2018.
“We keep a great line of communication throughout the game to make adjustments for halftime or the third and fourth quarters,” Jones said. “Our relationship on that part is very good.
“I think we do a very good job communicating how I feel, where I feel best at, where I feel like I can (succeed) the rest of the game.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 2:52 PM with the headline "How the Kansas City Chiefs will determine where to deploy Chris Jones on the D-line."