Last week I made my picks for the NFL award winners. When it came to the DPOY category, I wrote “While I’m happy an interior guy in Chris Jones is a finalist, he has no shot to win DPOY. This is a two horse race between defensive end Nick Bosa and outside linebacker Micah Parsons.” Well, maybe I was dead wrong. I know that playoffs don’t go towards voting for these awards, but after watching him play against the Bengals on Sunday, I think we need to have a legit conversation about him winning Defensive Player of the Year.
The Resumes
This years finalists for DPOY is one of the best classes I’ve ever seen. Let’s see the resumes.
DE Nick Bosa
In 16 games, Bosa tallied 18.5 sacks, 51 total tackles, 19 for loss, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 pass deflection.
LB Micah Parsons
In 17 games, Parsons totaled 13.5 sacks, 65 total tackles, 14 for loss, 3 forced fumbles, and 3 pass deflections.
DT Chris Jones
In 17 games, Jones had 15.5 sacks, 44 total tackles, 17 for loss, 2 forced fumbles, and 4 pass deflections.
While Bosa does edge Jones out in the sacks, tackles, and TFLs category, we have to account for the fact that Jones plays on the interior of the defensive line. When you’re at end, you are freed up to make plays. Whether Jones is at nose tackle or 3-tech, he is subject to double teams on a regular basis. Jones was third in the whole NFL in sacks this season and the next closest defensive tackle in sacks was Eagles Javon Hargrave. Hargrave had 12 sacks compared to Jones’ 15.5.
In addition, the Kansas City Chiefs were second in the NFL with 55 teams sacks. Jones accounted for 28% of the Chiefs total sacks. Micah Parsons accounted for 25% of the Cowboys sacks in 2022-2023. Jones also accounted for 19.1% of the Chiefs tackles for loss while Parsons had 15% of the Cowboys tackles for loss. The numbers that Jones posted this year are outstanding when you consider that he played the majority of his snaps on the interior.
How Does Jones Stack Up Against Past Winners?
In the past twenty seasons, there has been only one interior defensive lineman to win DPOY. Aaron Donald took home the award in 2017, 2018, and 2020. In 2017, Aaron Donald totaled 41 tackles, 15 for loss, 11 sacks, and 5 forced fumbles. Compared to Jones this season, Donald has 3 less tackles, 2 less tackles for loss, 4.5 less sacks, and 3 more forced fumbles.
During the 2018 season, Donald had a career year. In all categories, he’s better than Jones. He had 59 tackles, 25 for loss, 20.5 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles. Looking at the numbers, I currently score this 1-1. It’s a tie game. For the 2020 season when Donald took home his third DPOY, I think that Jones slightly edges out Donald. Donald had 45 tackles, 14 for loss, 13.5 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles. Those numbers are only one more tackle than Jones, 3 less tackles for loss, 2 less sacks, and 2 more forced fumbles. It’s safe to say that Jones stacks up nicely with past three-time winner Aaron Donald.
Jones Has Shown Great Versatility
This season, Jones played every position on the defensive line. Bosa primarily played between a 5-tech and wide 9-tech. Parsons showed a little more versatility than Bosa as he played between 7-tech and wide 9-tech while also playing off the ball in coverage. For Jones, he played everywhere on the defensive line between nose tackle, 2i-tech, 3-tech, 5-tech, 7-tech, and wide 9-tech. To be able to do that at 311 pounds is impressive. The top defensive ends in the NFL don’t come close to weighing that much. Myles Garrett is 271 pounds, Nick Bosa is 267 pounds, Brian Burns is 250 pounds, and Maxx Crosby is 256 pounds. Jones is far more versatile than any of those players I named.
Against Cincinnati this past weekend, Jones played everywhere and was impactful everywhere he lined up. He caused 10 pressures and sacked Burrow 2 times to go with 5 QB hits. On the most important drive of the game, Steve Spagnuolo bumped Jones to defensive end and he still brought the pressure against Hakeem Adeniji.
Maybe I jumped the gun last week, but there should be consideration for Jones to win DPOY. He’s quick, strong, and is the most versatile defensive lineman in all of football.