Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones tore his MCL in Saturday’s wild-card game against the Tennessee Titans, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Jones will undergo surgery, with the expected recovery time around 8-10 weeks.
Jones left their game against the Titans due to the injury and did not return. His loss was a significant blow to the Chiefs’ pass rush, which was already without edge rushers Dee Ford and Tamba Hali. Kansas City also lost tight end Travis Kelce for the rest of that game due to a concussion.
Jones, who was drafted No. 37 overall out of Mississippi State in 2016, had a strong second season with the Chiefs. He was the team’s best interior pass rusher and finished second on the team behind Justin Houston with 6.5 sacks.
Barring any setbacks, Jones should be right in time for the start of the Chiefs’ offseason program, which will begin at around April.
Jones also had surgery on his knee last offseason and missed the start of training camp. However, he’s played in all 32 regular-season games in his two-year career.
Along with cornerback Marcus Peters and linebacker Reggie Ragland, Jones is one of the young and talented building blocks on a Chiefs defense which took a significant step back this season.
Aside from needing him to return to full health, the Chiefs will also need to see Jones take his game to another level next season in order to help their defense to get back to the heights they reached in the past few years.
Follow Us
Subscribe