{"id":243872,"date":"2025-08-28T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=243872"},"modified":"2025-08-28T06:23:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T10:23:43","slug":"chris-jones-confident-chiefs-defense-will-deliver-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/08\/28\/chris-jones-confident-chiefs-defense-will-deliver-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Jones Confident Chiefs\u2019 Defense Will Deliver Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defensive lineman Chris Jones<\/a> says the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> will continue to set the standard on defense, even as questions linger about his production and the team\u2019s preseason struggles.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Aug 22, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis (56) and quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) and tight end Travis Kelce (87) and defensive tackle Chris Jones (95) watch play against the Chicago Bears during the second half of the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jones: Confident Chiefs\u2019 Defense Will Rise to the Occasion Again<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jones, entering his 11th NFL season, has been the anchor of Kansas City\u2019s defense since being drafted in the second round in 2016. Despite a dip in sack totals over the past three years \u2014 from 15.5 in 2022 to 5.0 in 2024 \u2014 he remains one of the league\u2019s most highly regarded defensive players. His pass-rush win rate last season ranked among the top at his position.
\n\u201cYou have to be very particular with what you want. I\u2019m a very competitive person in whatever I do, both on and off the field,\u201d Jones said this week. \u201cIt\u2019s not about me, it\u2019s about what we can do collectively as a team. We\u2019ve been able to execute together over the years, and I believe that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three-time Super Bowl champion and six-time Pro Bowler has compiled 310 tackles, 80.5 sacks, 13 forced fumbles, 37 pass deflections, and one defensive touchdown in 138 career games. He also holds the NFL record for most consecutive games with a sack (11).<\/p>\n

Trusting Spagnuolo’s Blueprint<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jones credited defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo for maintaining a disruptive unit and expressed excitement about the additions of defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott and defensive end Ashton Gillotte, selected in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe excitement is there because I know how hard everyone is working toward the common goal,\u201d Jones said. \u201cRemember, we led the league in sacks in 2022 and 2023. It\u2019s been done before, and I believe we can do it again.\u201d
\nKansas City closed its preseason with a 29-27 loss to the Chicago Bears, marking its sixth straight exhibition defeat. Jones dismissed concerns, saying the team is focused on the Sept. 5 regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus is on the regular season,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThat\u2019s the encounter that matters and will set the tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dynasty Not Done<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Despite the dip in preseason results, Jones believes the Chiefs\u2019 championship window remains wide open with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, and head coach Andy Reid still in place.<\/p>\n

“The talk is always about our downfall,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI think there\u2019s an unhealthy obsession with us out there. I hate to break it to you \u2014 we\u2019re more motivated than ever to go hard again when the season starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kingdom Work<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The defensive tackle was one of the players who were very vocal in the recently released ESPN documentary dubbed “The Kingdom. Jones was staggered by the negativity the team is receiving.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know why everybody be waiting on our downfall,” Jones said. “It’s become a norm now. We have become a new-age Patriots. It’s like, we used to be so loved, you know what I mean? Everybody was like, \u2018Yeah, we love the Chiefs.’ Now, it’s like, \u2018I’m tired of the Chiefs winning. Somebody else needs to win.’ You know what I mean? Then you got someone that) was like, \u2018Man, I feel like the Chiefs cheated,” he was quoted in the documentary.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs will kick off their season with a trip to Brazil, as visitors, against the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> in S\u00e3o Paulo on Friday, Sept. 5.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Jones is certain his team will continue to set the standard on defense, even as questions linger about his production. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5620,"featured_media":244185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,16],"tags":[7811,298,1576],"class_list":["post-243872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-chiefs","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-chris-jones","tag-patrick-mahomes"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5620"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243872"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":244186,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243872\/revisions\/244186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}