• A vintage showing from an elite interior defender: Against the Ravens, Jones earned an 80.5 PFF overall grade and won 20.4% of his pass-rush matchups.
• A dominant showing on the PFF grading scale: Jones picked up five 0.5 play grades, two 1.0 grades and two 1.5 grades. On PFF's grading scale for pass-rushers, the 1.5 is as good as it gets.
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Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Since Aaron Donald became a full-time starter, it was long difficult to argue against the notion that he was the best defensive player in football, let alone the best interior defensive lineman.
But now that the long-time Ram has retired, who will be the guy? The first to audition in 2024 was the Kansas City Chiefs‘ Chris Jones in the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens.
And as anyone who watched the game will know, Jones made a solid case.
By The Numbers
On the surface, it was a good game for Jones. A sack and five hurries. Most players would take a six-total pressure performance. In fact, he wasn’t the only player in the game to get that total output, with Chiefs edge George Karlaftis matching his effort.
But those numbers tell only part of the story, because while the total pressures were the same, the PFF pass-rushing grades were very different. Karlaftis managed only a 56.3 mark, while Jones hit an impressive and game-best 80.5 with the two playing comparable snaps (47 to 44 in Karlaftis’ favor).
Part of this can be explained by one metric: pass-rush win rate. Jones was in fine form, winning 20.0% of his matchups, while Karlaftis (for whom three of his six pressures didn’t involve beating a man) was at 7.1%.
Beyond the Numbers
Still, that tells only part of the story. Karlaftis picked up five positively graded pass rushes on his 47 such snaps, all of the “0.5” variety. (Read more about how PFF grades each play here.) These are characterized by a play like at 5:55 of the first quarter, where Karlaftis wins but does so late against tight end Charlie Kolar.
Meanwhile, Jones picked up five 0.5 grades, two 1.0 grades and two 1.5 grades. On PFF's grading scale for pass-rushers, the 1.5 is as good as it gets. Those two plays highlighted how dominant Jones can be.
The first occurred with 13:55 to go in the first quarter with Jones matched up against right guard Daniel Faalele. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it type play, with Jones beating Faalele to his outside instantly and forcing Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to check down immediately before being sacked. He followed that up with another instant win with 14:53 to go in the second quarter, where he went straight around right tackle Roger Rosengarten so quickly that the guard didn’t even have time to help out. Jones was on Jackson before he could do anything about it, disrupting the throwing motion and causing a fumble on the sack.
Again, it’s not just that Jones creates pressure. It’s how quickly he beats a man and disrupts a quarterback that leads to consistently high grades.
What’s Next
Jones is coming off a somewhat strange 2023. By his own high standards, he didn’t have the best of regular seasons (even a down regular season for him saw him grade at 85.9 and rank eighth overall). But his work in the postseason pushed him up to an 89.5 and fifth overall on the entire year, shutting down any chatter that he might be on the turn.
We’ll be watching eagerly to see what the other contenders for the throne can do. Can Dexter Lawrence earn back-to-back No. 1 rankings at the position? Will Quinnen Williams be the next man up? Could a young gun like Jalen Carter build on his impressive rookie year and take that step up? There is so much talent on the defensive interior that, while it is always sad to see a player playing as well as Aaron Donald retire, plenty of players have a shot to take over Donald's title.
And Chris Jones just got that show off to a fantastic start.
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