On Tuesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler continued his annual survey series with the defensive tackle position.
To come up with the rankings, Fowler polls the NFL’s top executives, coaches and scouts to create positional rankings. Kansas City Chiefs running back Isaiah Pacheco was named an honorable mention in the initial column released Monday.
The Chiefs’ Chris Jones leads the way when it comes to defensive tackles:
1. Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs
Highest ranking: 1 | Lowest ranking: 2
Age: 30 | Last year’s ranking: 2Jones stamped his first No. 1 in a major way, earning nearly 80% of the first-place votes. He once stole votes from Donald, and is now in a class by himself.
Jones ranks first in the 2024 field in pass rush win rate for defensive tackles (19.6%), and the 29 incompletions created by his pass rush ranked tied for second among defensive tackles.
“His size and consistent dominant effort is just so hard to block,” an NFL executive said of Jones. “He’s such a mismatch because of how long and strong he is, and he can win from every spot — edge, over center, in the B gap.”
Jones leads all defensive tackles with 35 sacks over the past three years.
There are several reasons why Chiefs general manager Brett Veach opted to break a trend of not committing to players around the age of 30 when he signed Jones to a multi-year contact extension back in March. Fowler hits on a couple of them.
Especially now that former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald has retired, it is Jones who is in a class of his own, with only the New York Jets’ Quinnen Williams stealing first-place votes in this survey. A reported 80% went to Jones, a sign of his dominance at the position.
The anonymous NFL executive’s words on Jones offer another key. Since Jones provides “such a mismatch,” it makes things easier for the entire defensive line. Jones naturally needs more attention, opening the door for one-on-one matchups for players such as George Karlaftis and Mike Danna. Veach said that game-wreckers like that aren’t replaceable.
Not mentioned here is yet another part of Veach’s strategy: the success of defensive tackles at age 30 or above. Donald maintained his excellent production into his early 30s — and there is optimism Jones can do the same. That could be boosted by a special work management schedule.
There are many dominant defensive ends in the NFL. There are fewer dominant defensive tackles — and there is one Chris Jones. The league’s decision-makers know it.