The Los Angeles Chargers are preparing for the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that offensive coordinator Greg Roman said “everyone is chasing,” but a challenge the team is “excited about.”
Roman was asked specifically about preparing for Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones. Jones is coming off his second consecutive year voted on to the first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selections.
Can The Chargers Beat Up O-Line Stop Chris Jones?
“Chris Jones is a very unique player, unbelievable skill. Roman said “He’s been doing it for a long time at an incredibly high level and we have tons of respect for that. And yes, he can line up anywhere. He’ll just walk around and pick a spot sometimes and say ‘I’m going here.’ You got to be ready for him to be anywhere. He could walk around as a linebacker. He’s done that as well and that guy is a force to be reckoned with. Turn on the tape and [he] just jumps off. We all know it, so extra care must be taken.”
Jones has racked up 31 tackles, 9.5 sacks of which were sacks and 15 for loss in 15 games against the Chargers. He also has 30 quarterback hits in those games. Last year, the Chargers held him to five pressures and one sack in their two games.
Extra care may be an understatement as they prepare for the queen on the chess board player like Jones. As Roman noted, Jones will line up anywhere he sees fit to play. This will strain the already battered and bruised offensive line.
So far this season, Jones has lined up as a left or right defensive end 71 times and as an outside linebacker 31 times, which represents 65 percent of his 2024 snaps.
Jones is fourth in the league with 13 pressures. What is even more impressive is all of those came in the first two games. Atlanta shut him out. It was the first time that has happened in the regular season since 2017.
