Quote:
Originally Posted by Chiefspants
Sorry for this comparison non-royals fans, but Chris Jones has always felt like the Eric Hosmer of the Chiefs 2020 team.
He brings an uncharacteristic skillset to the team and is just, unbelievably clutch in the biggest moments. I mean three knockdowns in the 4th quarter? Two that prevent sure completions to Kittle - one of which would have extended the Niners drive when we were down 20-17 and conceivably could have ended the game for us. Not only that, the Niners were so worried about Jones on passing plays that they triple teamed him and he still managed a knockdown. I mean holy ****. That is legendary stuff right there, just like Eric Hosmer going 0-3 with 3 lazy groundouts before becoming Babe Ruth in the bottom of the 9th inning down 2 runs.
Like Hosmer, Chris Jones struggles at the fundamentals of the position. There are two schools of thought about this. Keysor, for example, believes Jones more than makes up for it with his pass rushing, and that because of the Chiefs high powered offense, this more than makes up for Jones' struggles on running D. Kollmann, OTOH, disagrees, specifically because Jones is such a liability on running defense that other players have to compensate for Jones' weaknesses. This is especially a problem if the Chiefs have so much money locked up in Jones that they can't afford to lock up talent in other positions on the defense. Similar to Hosmer, some have suggested that Jones' strengths won't age well, and that the moment he loses a step his pass rushing will take a major hit, and that his lack of fundamentals on rushing defense would make him a complete liability on defense.
Now, there's always the chance that Jones will continue to be an absolute pass rushing force, and if that's the case, whoever gives him 5/105 money will be in good shape for a long time - but there's always a chance that the cynics will prove to be right (like they were with Hosmer) and that a contract like that will prove to be an albatross quite quickly. Like Hosmer, I'll forever love Jones and what he did to get us a title, but I think I'm going to be supportive of whatever the Chiefs decide to do in this case. Jones even has that Hosmer like swag on the D, getting in Brady's face was the stuff of legends in Foxboro this year, as was him arising at the best possible moment in the SB (and forcing that early INT off of Jimmy G).
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Great post. Thanks for that.
The 3 options are:
1. Force him to play on Franchise tag (if he plays), but risk team morale and also have diminished leverage in 2021
2. Trade him while his value will never be higher, but lose a critical star player
3. Sign him to a long-term and deal, but have cap limitations for future years
What's your preference?