Simply as he did on Tuesday, NFL.com author Nick Shook has caught our eye with one other article rating gamers based mostly on Subsequent Gen Stats from 2022.
On this one, Shook endeavors to establish gamers who’re disruptors for opposing offenses, utilizing NGS metrics that embody TO-QBP: turnovers brought on by stress.
I are inclined to weigh turnovers brought on by stress with probably the most significance, given the influence turnovers have on a recreation.
This train requires a cautious stability of quantity and effectivity, resulting in the occasional rating which may not make sense with easy logic. Participant A has extra pressures than Participant B; why is he ranked decrease?
When the numbers are comparable, I lean towards larger effectivity. Are these defenders maximizing their pass-rushing snaps, or are they benefiting from a better whole of snaps?
Whereas edge rushers Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys, Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers, Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns and Haason Reddick of the Philadelphia Eagles lead this top-10 rating, simply three defensive tackles are listed — and the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ Chris Jones leads them.
5. Chris Jones · DT · Kansas Metropolis Chiefs
QBP: 55QBP price: 10.3percentHurries: 34Sacks: 15.5TO-QBP: 4
Sometimes, inside defensive linemen don’t make this listing, save for all-world defensive deal with Aaron Donald. Coincidentally, in a yr by which Donald missed six video games, one other defensive deal with produced on a degree worthy of this listing.
Jones receives some consideration on a nationwide degree as a result of he performs for the perennial powerhouse Chiefs. That is true. However his efficiency is the principle cause the highlight is incessantly skilled on him, and he definitely lived as much as excessive expectations in 2022.
For context, listed here are Donald’s numbers from 2021, which have been ok to earn him an eighth-place spot on this listing a yr in the past:
QBP: 64QBP price: 10.8percentHurries: 43Sacks: 12.5TO-QBP: 1
Donald produced larger totals in pressures and hurries, however the place Jones really separates himself is in probably the most important outcomes: sacks and turnovers brought on by stress.
Jones was a game-wrecker whose contributions appeared all through the 2022 season. His influence within the Chiefs’ demon-exorcizing AFC title recreation win over the Cincinnati Bengals was evident by all 4 quarters, particularly when defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo moved Jones to the sting for a one-on-one matchup with proper deal with Hakeem Adeniji, producing an important third-down sack within the recreation’s remaining minute. That’s the kind of participant Jones has been for years: a fortune-changing disruptor.
Takeaway
“Properly, our first purpose — all the time — right here is to hoist that Lombardi Trophy,” mentioned Kansas Metropolis defensive position coach Joe Cullen again in August. “And for us to get there — to get the chance to do this — he has to have a profession yr.”
Cullen was talking — very prophetically, because it turned out — about Jones.
Snook inserting him above the entire different inside defensive linemen on this rating is simply one other indicator that in his seventh season, Jones wasn’t only a disruptor. He was a monster. That’s why he was named an All-Professional for the primary time in his profession.
And for that, quite a lot of the credit score has to go to Cullen.
“Me and Joe see eye-to-eye on quite a lot of issues,” mentioned Jones of his place coach throughout 2022’s coaching camp — including that he and Cullen had instantly related throughout their first assembly. “I don’t suppose we’ve had a disagreement but. However we undoubtedly see eye-to-eye on quite a lot of various things: the mechanics, how we view cross dashing, the side of cross dashing, what sort of expectations we must always have as a bunch.
“I really like Joe, man. That’s my man.”
It’s not but identified whether or not the staff will select to increase Jones — who might be 29 when he begins the ultimate yr of his contract in opposition to the Detriot Lions on Thursday, September 7 — however so long as Cullen might be round for nonetheless lengthy Jones’ extension would possibly change into, it looks as if it could be the precise transfer.
