Chris Jones has half a sack through seven games, and the Chiefs' pass rush has stalled with him

Seven games into the season, Chris Jones has half a sack. The six-time All-Pro defensive tackle also has 13 tackles and three quarterback hits, ESPN's Nate Taylor wrote on Thursday, and in the losses at Seattle and Denver he played 87 snaps without a tackle, a batted pass or a hit on the quarterback.

Jones, 32, told reporters last week that he knows he has started slowly, as he did in each of the past two seasons, and that age is not the reason. "I always can be better," he said.

The numbers behind it

The underlying measures have slipped too. Through seven games Jones has 14 pressures and a pass-rush win rate of 13.1% from the interior, 35th in the league, according to NFL Next Gen Stats figures cited by ESPN. At the same point last season he had 20 pressures and an 18.6% win rate, fifth-best among interior rushers.

Part of the explanation is attention. Jones has seen the eighth-most double-teams in the league, Taylor reported, and Denver doubled him or rolled Bo Nix away from his side for most of Sunday. When he did get a one-on-one, against right guard Quinn Meinerz, he won it twice early: once forcing an incompletion on third down, and once only for Nix to climb the pocket and find Jaylen Waddle for 35 yards.

The rest of the line has not cashed in on those double-teams. Defensive ends Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Ashton Gillotte and rookie R Mason Thomas have not consistently won their matchups, and the Chiefs pressured Nix on just two of his 34 dropbacks at Denver, the lowest rate by any team in a game this season. That mattered at the end: Denver scored 15 points on its last two drives to erase a 24-13 deficit, as ESPN detailed after the game.

Kansas City has nine sacks, tied with the Giants and the Dolphins for the fewest in the NFL. George Karlaftis leads the team with two, by ESPN's season stats. The front came into the year expected to improve on last season's 35 sacks, the league's fifth-fewest.

Where it goes from here

Reid and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo both defended Jones this week, Reid pointing to the extra blockers he draws and asking the other rushers to finish the plays those double-teams create. Jones has a track record of late surges: over the Chiefs' last 10 games of 2025 he had five sacks and a 20.5% pass-rush win rate, fifth-highest in the league, per Next Gen Stats.

He also has a milestone in reach. Jones needs two sacks to pass Tamba Hali (89½) for second in franchise history, the AP noted in its preview.

The interior help is short this week. Rookie defensive tackle Peter Woods (neck) and Omarr Norman-Lott (knee) are both out against the Jets, Friday's injury report showed. The Jets (2-6) arrive with Geno Smith at quarterback and without receiver Garrett Wilson. Kickoff is 1 p.m. Eastern at Arrowhead on CBS; prices are on the game page.