McGinn Files: Inside the rise of Chris Jones, the Kansas City Chiefs' mercurial star
How did he become a Chief? What goes into his infamous on-and-off switch? Our Bob McGinn talks to people inside the Chiefs building. Jones is a once-in-a-generation talent... with complexities.
This is the continuation of a 2023 series looking at active players and their current situation vis a vis what it was entering the NFL draft. The comments from personnel men were made in the months leading up to the draft for my NFL Draft Series, which dates to 1985. Scouting football players is an inexact science, especially when it comes to off-the-field considerations. It has been said that no two evaluators view a player exactly the same way.
Subscribers can also access the weekly “Ty & Bob Pod,” breaking down the NFC North. Here’s this week’s episode.
By Bob McGinn
When the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 1996 their bellwether, Reggie White, stood 6 foot 5 and weighed 305 pounds. His dimensions would mesh perfectly with the defensive linemen of today, 30 years later.
The NFL shouldered into the modern age in the early 1960s. But it would be another generation of two before defensive tackles with the range and heft of the “Big Dog” become common.
Look at the weights of some other great defensive linemen whose careers spanned from 1961 to 1996 and measured at least 6-4 ½: Bob Lilly (6-5, 260), Buck Buchanan (6-7, 270), Merlin Olsen (6-5, 270), Dan Hampton (6-5, 264), Howie Long (6-5, 268), Keith Millard (6-6, 260) and Ray Childress (6-6, 270).
Bill Kollar is 72, three years removed from the last of his 33 seasons as a legendary defensive line coach in the NFL. Before coaching the position from 1990- ‘22, Kollar was the Bengals’ first-round draft choice as a defensive tackle from Montana State in 1974 and wound up playing eight years.
“I played with Mike Reid in Cincinnati,” Kollar said this week. “He was fucking cat-quick. He was the same size as me. We were both about 6-3, maybe 6-3 ½, 250. Playing defensive tackle! The game has evolved so much now.
“The guys way back are way different than the guys today. Howie Long had unbelievable quickness and strength but, size-wise, he wasn’t even close to Chris Jones. Guys are just freaks now. It’s unbelievable. Like guys are 300 in high school. It’s a whole different deal. It’s unreal.”
Based off interviews this week, Jones, a stalwart for the dynastic Kansas City Chiefs since 2016, is one of seven distinguished defensive linemen who might be categorized together given that their careers were contained in this millennium, they’re at least 6-4 ½ and they have at least 50 career sacks.
Listed on the basis of career sacks, that group would include J.J. Watt (6-5 ½, 290, 4.84), Cam Heyward (6-4 ½, 295, 4.95), Jones (6-6, 311, 5.01), Fletcher Cox (6-4 ½, 299, 4.80), DeForest Buckner (6-7, 288, 5.04), Kevin Williams (6-5, 304, 4.85) and Richard Seymour (6-5 ½, 295, 4.94).
A notch below might be Calais Campbell (6-8, 285, 5.01), Albert Haynesworth (6-5 ½, 320, 4.87), Marcus Stroud (6-5 ½, 321, 5.12) and John Henderson (6-7, 306, 5.00). Of these four players, Campbell is the only one with 50+ sacks.
Jones has been the defensive mainstay on five teams in Kansas City that reached the Super Bowl. He’s the type of supersized athlete that even now still turns heads.
“There just aren’t many guys like that,” said Tom Telesco, who as general manager of the Chargers from 2011-’23 and the Raiders in 2024 prepared twice a year for AFC West battles with Jones and the Chiefs. “It’s that explosiveness. You take 300 pounds and you move that quickly really fast, it’s hard to stop.”
What made it doubly hard for opponents, according to Telesco, is when the Chiefs began moving Jones to a position outside the offensive tackle in passing situations. That required so much extra in terms of preparation.
“You don’t put very many 300-pound guys on the edge and then have him win,” Telesco said. “He kind of wins on the edge the same way he wins inside. He has enough up-field speed the first couple steps to gain the edge on the tackle and then use his explosive power to power through that and make the corner shorter.”
As a 3-technique, Jones crowds the line of scrimmage down after down as he tries to penetrate in the one-gap system of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
“He has really good inside quickness when he goes,” Kollar said. “The guy’s a hell of a rusher. He’s slippery. He’s trying to get off on the snap as quick as he can. He’s probably more effective from the inside but he can beat guys on the outside, too.”
Jones is less effective against the run. His overall effort has been a question mark since college.
“He picks his spots,” said an executive in personnel for a Chiefs’ opponent. “But when it’s go time — third downs, passing situations — he’s still one of the best at winning off the snap and beating the guard up the field. He can wreck a game. That’s his value. But he’s not an every-down grinder.”
On certain plays Jones always has had a tendency to come off the ball and, if blocked, stand and watch. It came to the fore Oct. 6 in Jacksonville when Jones didn’t move to make the tackle when quarterback Trevor Lawrence fell coming out from under center and then had time to run in for the winning touchdown.
Jones accepted accountability for what in effect was loafing, but some scouts suggested a look at any Kansas City tape will show him taking too many plays off.
“It can be glaring,” said Will Lewis, a 20-year NFL executive who directed the Chiefs’ pro personnel department when Jones was drafted. “I don’t think it’s as often as people think it is, but when it does happen it can be magnified. He can pick and choose when he wants to go. Sometimes you get that superstar mentality where you think you can turn it on and turn it off.”