Chris Jones Should Be the Leader for Defensive Player of the Year

The Chiefs All-Pro defensive tackle is a big reason why Kansas City is 6–0. Plus, the Ravens are ascending again thanks to their offensive line and more in Albert Breer’s Tuesday notes.

Jones should be the leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year. / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

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1. Ravens
2. Commanders
3. Dolphins
4. Buccaneers
5. 49ers
6. Browns
7. Giants
8. Cardinals
9. Cowboys

We’re approaching Week 8, and starting to figure out what we know about all 32 teams. And with that, here are the Tuesday notes …

• I do get it.

Patrick Mahomes is the quarterback. Travis Kelce gets the ball and is dating Taylor Swift.

There are reasons why the third piece of the core off which Andy Reid and Brett Veach have built the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty doesn’t get the credit he deserves. But I’ll try to put a stop to it here—and tell you not only that Chris Jones should be your leader in the clubhouse for Defensive Player of the Year, he’s also been as important to Kansas City’s 6–0 start as anyone.

If stats are what you’re into, you might disagree. Jones has 12 tackles and three sacks through six games. But once you dig in, and talk to those who are actually evaluating what Jones is doing on tape, a different picture emerges, one in which the Chiefs’ five-time All-Pro impacts every snap he plays. And that adds up to a lot, since he’s playing an outsized number of them (he’s been in on 80% of the team’s defensive snaps through six games) for a 30-year-old interior defensive lineman.

If you really need numbers to back it up, here’s one analytical look at Jones’s impact …

Oh no, Chris Jones is ruining the scale here.

(He is basically what Aaron Donald was when Aaron Donald was still in the league) pic.twitter.com/3IIHeIwjiF

— Timo Riske (@PFF_Moo) October 17, 2024

Bottom line: Creating that level of havoc makes everyone better, and Jones’s teammates will tell you that, too.

“It’s understanding work ethic, a guy who believes in the team. He did an interview not too long ago talking about whether we wanted to have a DPOY award or win another Super Bowl, and he’s all in on the Super Bowl along with the rest of us,” veteran safety Justin Reid told me Sunday. “That’s just the culture that we have here. It allows all of us to continue to push and believe in each other. Chris is having a phenomenal year.

“He attracts so much attention that not only is he still making plays himself, he’s allowing other guys to make plays because he’s getting double-, triple-teamed and guys are getting one-on-ones and free shots at the quarterback. It can’t be overstated, his impact on the game week-in and week-out.”

And if Jones only cares about the team’s record, like Reid says, then he’s getting his reward.

But he sure does deserve more than just that.

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Ravens

• The Baltimore Ravens are again ascending, and it’s in large part because of the stomach they had in making the decisions they have over the course of this calendar year.

We went over this after they beat the Cincinnati Bengals last week. They’ve relied on young offensive linemen in Daniel Faalele, Roger Rosengarten and Andrew Vorhees, second-year inside linebacker Trenton Simpson and 32-year-old defensive coordinator Zach Orr to take seats this year that were previously held by veterans. When it looked a bit uneven in September, Baltimore pushed forward.

And here they are now. Behind that offensive line, the Ravens rushed for 244 yards Monday night, and Lamar Jackson’s 158.1 passer rating was 0.2 points off from perfect while he threw for a career-high five touchdowns. Simpson had eight tackles, one for a loss, playing next to Roquan Smith. Orr’s defense, meanwhile, stemmed the tide of a rough start with two picks in the second quarter, one in the end zone, that turned the momentum of the game.

That’s how a 10–0 deficit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers built in the blink of an eye turned into a 41–31 win for the Ravens that wasn’t nearly that close (it was 41–18 with five minutes to go). Even better, all that young talent should keep getting better from here on out.

Turns out, Baltimore knew what it was doing in March and April. As usual.

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Commanders

• No one wanted to see Jayden Daniels go down like he did Sunday, but as we mentioned Monday in the takeaways, it did prove what sort of program is being built in Washington. And one thing that I thought was really interesting in talking to Marcus Mariota, who played well in taking over for Daniels, was his own belief in it.

Mariota’s been in the league for over a decade. He’s on his fifth team, and he’s seen messes and rebuilds, and been with playoff teams, too. So his perspective on where the Washington Commanders are now is valuable—and, as he sees it, the future is bright.

“It starts up top with A.P. [GM Adam Peters] and Coach [Dan] Quinn,” he told me Sunday.  “Our guys really believe in what they’re building here. When you have that type of belief, anything’s possible. It’s such an interesting league. Everybody’s very talented across the board, but the difference is how guys come together and how you build it. Coach Quinn from the beginning, the first day, that was his intent. He’s very adamant about building a great atmosphere that everybody can enjoy.

“It’s fun to be a part of when you have a group of guys that believe in that. Things will tend to fall your way. We’re excited to be a part of it. Let’s see where this goes."

It should be fun to follow for the rest of the season. And while Daniels is certainly a massive part of that, there’s a lot more to this than just him (which I think he’d agree with).

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Dolphins

• Tua Tagovailoa’s press conference Monday, which got a bit combative at times, did strike a very direct tone—the Miami Dolphins’ quarterback isn’t considering, and never really seriously considered, walking away from football as a result of his most recent concussion.

That much was clear inside the Miami facility over the past few weeks.

Outside of the time he’s spent with the medical staff and training staff, which has been considerable, my understanding is Tagovailoa’s been locked in with his teammates, going through meetings and prep for games as he would if he was playing. Of course, he still has to clear the protocol this week, and some of that has to come through practicing. But he says he’s been symptom-free since the day after the concussion in mid-September.

And for what it’s worth, this sort of approach, and determination to play, is what most around Tagovailoa thought would come from this situation. My guess? He’ll play Sunday.

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Buccaneers

• Chris Godwin’s out for the year, Mike Evans’s hamstring injury didn’t look good, and the Buccaneers suddenly have a pretty serious issue at receiver.

Maybe they’ll add someone. But I do think they’ve done a nice job developing young guys behind Evans and Godwin over the past couple of years, and that’ll be put to the test now. Trey Palmer has flashed his big-play potential as a second-year guy, and Sterling Shepard gives the Bucs a veteran presence. Rookie Jalen McMillan can play, too, and the team loves undrafted free agent Kameron Johnson, though he just landed on injured reserve with an ankle injury. Tight end Cade Otton should be part of the solution, as well.

But it’s hard to imagine any of them can make up for what Godwin or Evans can do.

Which makes Evans’s recovery timetable critical.

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49ers

• The loss of Brandon Aiyuk certainly brings the progress of first-round pick Ricky Pearsall into focus for the San Francisco 49ers. But there might be some help out there for them. When the Niners discussed an Aiyuk trade with the New England Patriots during the summer, Kendrick Bourne, whom New England poached from San Francisco in free agency in 2021, was brought up, and San Francisco showed real interest in bringing him back.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Niners circle back with the Patriots on him.

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Browns

• The Cleveland Browns snatched Bailey Zappe off the Chiefs’ practice squad, and Zaape arrives in Cleveland with more NFL starts since the beginning of the 2022 season (eight) than Jameis Winston and Dorian Thompson-Robinson combined (six). He also has experience in a system similar to Ken Dorsey’s, having played for Bill O’Brien last year in New England.

So could Zappe end up starting down the line for the Browns? Sure. Especially after the way we saw the Browns handled Deshaun Watson’s absence last year.

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Giants

• Andrew Thomas’s injury is about the worst one the New York Giants could have suffered, and bringing ex-Arizona Cardinal D.J. Humphries in for a visit is a good illustration of it. Ideally, the team would have Evan Neal, the sixth pick in the 2022 draft, in position to play in Thomas’s absence. But Neal was a healthy scratch Sunday, the team’s first game without Thomas, and has yet to play a single snap for the team in ’24.

Making it worse is that the tackle taken two spots after Neal in the top 10 in 2022, Charles Cross, is playing at a high level for the Seahawks Seahawks.

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Cardinals

• Monday night showed again why Cardinals running back James Conner is the type of dude you want on your team.

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Cowboys

• Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Tuesday that Micah Parsons and Daron Bland are in play to return this week, and that’d be huge with a trip to San Francisco on tap.