San Francisco 49ers: 5 players who will rise in training camp
By Robert Smith
No. 4: Chris Jones, DE
Endless motor. Effort guy. The type of player everyone wants and needs on their team.
These words have been used repeatedly by NFL scouts and football pundits since Walter Camp helped found the sport.
In the case of Chris Jones, truer words have never been spoken.
Jones, who spent the first 22 games of his career with New England before he missed all of 2015 with a leg injury, plays whistle to whistle on every down he is in the game.
“You can never have enough Chris Jones’ on your roster-guys who just stand for all the right things, work their tail off and who are actually effective at playing football”- Robert Saleh
In fact, new 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said as much, stating, “You can never have enough Chris Jones’ on your roster-guys who stand for all the right things, work their tail off and who are actually effective at playing football.”
Jones excels at finding the football, as his 107 tackles and nine sacks in 41 games can attest to. Last season, Jones played in place of injured defensive end Arik Armstead during the last six games and produced 17 tackles in that brief period of time.
While Jones may not be a Pro Bowl player for the 49ers, he can indeed be a valuable rotational player as a 4-3 defensive tackle.