The Kansas City Chiefs’ Chris Jones is not your typical second-round rookie defensive end. A defensive end drafted in the top-40 of the NFL Draft normally is expected to contribute right away for their team, but Jones took a while to rev up to speed. After putting together just five assisted tackles and no solos in his first month in the league, Jones has 12 total tackles, 2.0 sacks, and 4.0 stuffs over his most recent seven games. That’s not a great pace, but he’s only played 46 percent of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps this year, and since the bye he’s been startable five of seven times. It’s slow, but he’s steadily adjusting to the NFL game.
This will be a good litmus test for Jones, to see how much he’s developed. The Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City’s Week 13 opponents, rank 10th-highest in sack rate allowed and sixth-highest in stuff rate allowed. Jones is heating up at the right time, and should be able to garner some production in this one.
Jones is available in 97.3% of ESPN IDP leagues, and we project him for 2.30 tackles, 0.12 sacks, and a total score of 2.84 fantasy points in Week 13 -- a projection that I think is low.