![\"Chiefs\u2019](\"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AP21319045423601-scaled.jpg\")
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Chris Jones is a future Hall of Famer.<\/p>\n
A six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, he has 82.5 career sacks. That number is the fourth most in Kansas City Chiefs history.<\/p>\n
But in his 10th season, the 31-year-old defensive lineman, who has been the team\u2019s best defensive player throughout the Patrick Mahomes era, has not played up to his typically elite standards.<\/p>\n
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was asked about Jones during Monday\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all need to do better,\u201d he said. \u201cChris is always striving to do better every day. That\u2019s what\u2019s made him such a good player.\u201d<\/p>\n
But only in his rookie year in 2016 has Jones had so few sacks through eight games. (That year he also had two sacks but did not start until Week Seven and got his two sacks over the next four games.)<\/p>\n
He\u2019s had at least five sacks every other season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the two sacks he has this year. He has totaled\u00a0just five pressures in the last three games\u00a0while opposing offenses continue to focus their blocking schemes toward Jones.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll get his as we go forward,\u201d Reid said. \u201cHe\u2019s the guy that they\u2019re going to focus on. And if you\u2019re getting a double team, that\u2019s who\u2019s getting doubled.\u201d<\/p>\n
But from a financial perspective, Jones must do more than occupy blockers. He takes up three times the salary cap space as every other Chiefs defender after signing a five-year $158.75 million contract extension before the 2024 season.<\/p>\n
The Chiefs need him to dominate.<\/p>\n
Many presumed 2025 would be a huge year for Jones because of how the defensive leader was emotionally impacted by the 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX.<\/p>\n
In the postgame locker room, his inspiring, motivational speech to the team was captured in the ESPN documentary\u00a0Kingdom<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, it\u2019s gonna hurt. It\u2019s supposed to. It\u2019s a lesson, but it\u2019s also something you can build off of,\u201d he said. \u201cMake sure when you approach training camp, this is the best shape you\u2019ve ever been in because you\u2019ve got something to prove, man. It\u2019s gonna hurt. They was the better team today, and it\u2019s okay. You got to accept that —-. When you accept it, you work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones knows what it\u2019s like to both win and lose Super Bowls. Along with Mahomes and Travis Kelce, Harrison Butker and James Winchester, Jones is one of five players to suit up in all five of the Chiefs\u2019 recent Super Bowls, winning three.<\/p>\n He explained his postgame reaction to coming up just short of the historic three-peat last year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all was overflowed with emotions especially after a big game like that and especially the way we lost,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s more so about how you respond. So eventually you going to get knocked down, but the response is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n So far Jones has not responded in the way most figured.<\/p>\n His struggling season \u2014 at least by the lofty bar Jones has set \u2014 was symbolized by the Jacksonville Jaguars\u2019 last offensive play to win 31-28 on\u00a0<\/p>\n Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence fell twice but still ran in for the game-winning score, and Jones\u00a0did not run to the ball.<\/p>\n To Jones\u2019 credit, though, he was a stand-up person who owned up to his mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a teaching point for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t think the play is over. You know what I mean? It\u2019s a learning lesson. I thought it was over. I thought we had him down. So I kind of stopped and was about to celebrate and then realized that he wasn\u2019t down.\u201d<\/p>\n That loss to the Jaguars was the most surprising of the season for the 5-4 Chiefs, but a clear path to their 10th straight AFC West title remains.<\/p>\n And with a pivotal game Sunday against the first-place Denver Broncos, the Chiefs could use a vintage performance from Jones more than ever.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0are off to a 2-7 start, and fans have called for head coach Kevin Stefanski to be fired.<\/p>\n However, it is unlikely that Stefanski\u00a0will be fired this season. Meanwhile, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot revealed that he is likely to return in 2026. General manager Andrew Berry is also expected back, according to Cabot.<\/p>\n \u201cThe truth is, we have no idea what they are actually really thinking,\u201d Cabot\u00a0said on 92.3 The Fan. \u201cI know going into it, Jimmy Haslam has indicated, I believe at the owner\u2019s meetings, that he wasn\u2019t holding Kevin and Andrew\u2019s feet to the fire because this was the year they were trying to figure out what they had in one of these rookie quarterbacks. Or, at least at that point, they knew it was going to be one rookie quarterback.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there was this sense of \u2018win or else\u2019 this season. It was about fact-finding and figuring out what they had and helping them inform what to do in the 2026 draft. I just don\u2019t think this was a year where the expectations were super, crazy high. But, still, you have to see certain things from your football team. \u2026 I do think that Jimmy believes in continuity and alignment in his organization. And, he knows that this is a challenging year with all of the rookies. In a perfect world, he\u2019s going to want to try to maintain that continuity. And, see if they can\u2019t get this thing on the right track with a new quarterback they will probably draft in 2026.<\/p>\n Cabot believes Haslam still has confidence in Berry and Stefanski, and both could very well return next season with a new quarterback.<\/p>\n Cleveland has struggled this season as the Browns are off to a 2-7 start and coming off a disappointing 27-20 road loss to the\u00a0New York Jets.<\/p>\n Following the loss, Stefanski made it clear that the goal and focus are on turning it around and finding ways to win.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously frustrated, disappointed on that result yesterday,\u201d Stefanski\u00a0said\u00a0on Monday. \u201cAnd we\u2019re spending time right now watching it with the players and trying to learn from that. You know, hard to win on the road, and certainly hard when you do some of the things we did in that ball game. But we\u2019re committed to this thing, and we\u2019ll just find ways to get better in all areas and we\u2019ll go from there. Big division game at our place this week.\u201d<\/p>\n Stefanski believes the Browns have to be better in all three phases of the game. Despite that being an issue all season, he has full confidence in his group.<\/p>\n The Browns will host the\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0on Sunday in a game Cleveland\u00a0is a 7.5-point underdog.<\/p>\n Although Stefanski hasn\u2019t been fired, and there are no signs he will be, his name has come up for other jobs.<\/p>\n The\u00a0New York Giants\u00a0fired Brian Daboll on Monday after a loss to the\u00a0Chicago Bears. Following Daboll\u2019s firing, NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky\u00a0links\u00a0Stefanski to the Giants.<\/p>\n \u201cThe No. 1 name that I would pay attention to if I were the\u00a0Giants\u00a0is what happens in Cleveland with Kevin Stefanski,\u201d Orlovsky\u00a0said\u00a0on Monday on NFL Live. \u201cIf I could hand-pick a guy, it would be Stefanski. He\u2019s an outstanding coach, two-time Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand people in Cleveland are like, \u2018This guy can\u2019t coach\u2019. But there\u2019s a lot of empirical data that would say otherwise. \u2026 I would pay attention to see what\u2019s going on in Cleveland.\u201d<\/p>\n Stefanski has been the Browns\u2019 head coach since 2020 and has led them to the playoffs twice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chris Jones is a future Hall of Famer. A six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, he has 82.5 career sacks. That number is the fourth most in Kansas City Chiefs history. But…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t