August is the time of year the NFL season starts ramping up. As training camps across the league start to draw to a close, teams begin to do their evaluations towards preparing their rosters for the start of the regular season. It’s the time of year the players judge their peers and rank who they feel belongs on a top 100 list.
Aired on NFL Network, this year’s ‘Top 100 Players’ list progressed from 100 to 51 on August 14, and on Sunday, players ranked 50 to 21 were revealed. No members of the Kansas City Chiefs were named for the first 61 slots until defensive tackle Chris Jones fell at #39.
Jones fell five spots from the #34 spot he placed at the beginning of last season. In 2021, he started in 14 games and recorded 27 tackles (18 solo), nine sacks, 17 QB hits, and 34 pressures. Jones struggled at the beginning of the ‘21 campaign, mainly from the coaching staff experimenting with him lining up as an outside edge rusher on the defensive line, which proved ineffective.
Eventually, Jones was kicked back inside the defensive line, where he resumed lining up at his natural (and more fitting) spot at defensive tackle. Going into his seventh NFL season, Jones will be lining up alongside a younger defensive line (guys like Mike Danna, George Karlaftis, and a leaner Frank Clark) which should take some of the attention off of him as the Chiefs lean towards generating a more dominant and consistent pass rush.
In 90 career games (62 starts), Jones has registered 199 total tackles (138 solo), 49.5 sacks, 117 QB hits, 48 tackles for a loss, 154 pressures, ten forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.
