Kansas City Chiefs: Top five draft picks of the last decade
By Cullen Jekel
NUMBER FIVE
Chris Jones, Defensive End, Round 2, Pick 37, Mississippi State, 2016
On draft day in 2016, the Chiefs traded the 28th overall pick to the San Francisco 49ers, dropping back nine spots in order to acquire two additional draft picks. With the 37th pick, they nabbed Chris Jones.
Jones showed flashes his rookie season, playing in all 16 games while starting 11. While only collecting two sacks, he added ten quarterback hits, five tackles-for-loss, 28 combined tackles, and four passes defended.
In 2017, he improved those numbers to six-and-a-half sacks, 13 quarterback hits, five tackles-for-loss, 32 combined tackles, and seven passes defended while adding one interception and four forced fumbles.
This season, however, Jones broke through in a mean way as he collected a whopping 15.5 sacks, which ranked third in the league, including at least one sack in ten consecutive games. He was a major reason why the Chiefs tied for the league lead in sacks for the season.
He added his second career interception (which he took to the house), defended five passes, forced two fumbles, accumulated 40 combined tackles, 19 tackles-for-loss, and 29 quarterback hits.
With the defense transitioning to a 4-3 scheme, Jones should continue to play a pivotal role, even if he doesn’t put up the numbers he had in 2018. Hopefully, the Chiefs will be able to lock up Jones for years to come.