The search for Chris Jones has become a matter of great importance for the Kansas City Chiefs.
As the team prepares for their Week 1 matchup against the Detroit Lions, head coach Dan Campbell doesn’t seem to share the same level of concern.
Lions HC Dan Campbell unworried about facing Chris Jones: "Until he's in the building, it's not a concern"https://t.co/AocS5VF81D pic.twitter.com/1ZY8MrkbnB
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) September 3, 2023
Jones’s outstanding performance last season made him a leading candidate for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
However, Jones’s absence from training and preseason has shown nothing regarding his preparedness for the upcoming season opener vs. the Detroit Lions.
Meanwhile, coach Dan Campbell has made it clear that he does not consider facing Jones a pressing matter until he witnesses his presence on the field.
“I’m not monitoring it,” Campbell said Friday on 97.1 The Ticket. “It doesn’t matter. He’s either there or he’s not. And if he is, he plays 15 plays, they’re all on third down and we’ll be ready. Otherwise, he’s not there and we just keep going. That’s out of our control.”
Where as it seems to be the exact opposite with the Chiefs coach, Andy Reid who is pretty worried.
With Jones out of action, Big Red is confronted with the pressure to find suitable replacements to maintain their defensive dominance.
“I mean as a coach, when a player is not here, then the next guy is up and rolling,” Reid said Friday, via team transcript. “Chris is a great player, but we’ve got other good players.
They’ll have to step their game up to fill the role of defensive tackle, defensive end and so on. Everybody just has to play their best and then you work through it.
But to think that you’re going to fill in for Chris, that’s not what you’re doing. You’re just — the next man comes up and you try to utilize his strengths and let him get in there and play.
We’ve had success doing that and so we’ll do it again. I know the guys are excited to get in and play.”
With or without Jones both teams Campbell’s Lions and Reid’s Chiefs matchup on Thursday to kick off the 2023 NFL season.
