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Originally Posted by Direckshun
So I do agree with your last paragraph -- that with the roster we have right now, we need to start being creative with the talent on the roster to figure out that other DE position. That's why I've been groaning for months about the DE2 position, for the record: the talent we have at DE outside of Frank Clark ( himself a troublesome situation) is less than awesome, and now it's forcing our hand to experiment with moving a Top 3 player out of position. (It's a change that Jones has been actively begging for, so that is a little encouraging, but still.)
Anyway, I don't think this is a roll of the dice. Jones has shown up to camp in a "Spags DE" bodyshape, per reports. I think we're legit putting our eggs in this basket, and I do think it's been a plan for a while, which is why we didn't make a bigtime push for a DE in the draft or free agency. I think they're banking on this working, so I don't think this is a mere molehill.
Let me ask you what I asked Chris in a previous post: what do you think we're looking at here, as we read the OTA tea leaves? My general opinion is that we're looking at Jones playing strongside DE in the base roughly 35-45% of his snaps. You? |
I don't really care how much they play Jones at DE. It's going to depend on matchup, and I don't view the expected percentage or breakdown of snaps at each line position to be relevant.
And I'm not worried about Jones and his "Spags DE" body shape. He can still easily play most of his snaps on the interior if need be. What weight was he playing at last year? What's he going to play at this year? They're not going to ask him to drop 30 lbs or something ridiculous like that. And again... if the Chiefs decide that Jones at DE just isn't working out, they have the entire regular season to make that decision to just keep him at DT.