KC Chiefs: Top five defensive players heading into 2019 training camp
By Casey Adkins
CHRIS JONES
Chris Jones is a monster of a player and one that will be a definite factor.
In his third year, he finished with 15.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and even recorded a pick-six against the Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished with a defensive grade of 90.6 per PFF, which is good for ninth best, he had a 91.2 pass-rushing grade (good for third best among Defensive Linemen) and he had 74 total pressures in 2018, good for third best among defensive linemen.
Jones is a high-motor guy who doesn’t give up, but he is in the midst of a holdout, which is to be expected. This poses a problem because this is a new defense and he needs to be in camp to learn it. He isn’t the most tenacious player on this defense, that will go to our next entrant.
TYRANN MATHIEU
The Chiefs needed some major help in the secondary so they decided to employ the services of a Honey Badger. He rebounded nicely last season after tearing his ACL the year before.
Tyrann Mathieu played everywhere in the secondary last season for the Texans and is going to be a major cog because of it. As his nickname states, he doesn’t give up on a play and isn’t afraid of tackling.
Trying to predict where he will play is like trying to predict the lottery numbers. Having an intense guy like Mathieu is only going to improve the defense since players tend to feed off of it. Don’t get me wrong, Mathieu is going to be a monster in the secondary but he wasn’t the only one the Chiefs added.