I'm with you, Dane. Can't imagine what the concern is other than the natural "is he good enough for the NFL" type concern about any rookie. Being a tall guy, there might be a question about whether he plays too tall, but from what I've read, for a big guy, he keeps his pad level very low. I really like the potential in this kid. I think he's gonna be a stud!

Chris Jones is to me what Marcus Peters was to SNR. I pimped him all offseason and we actually drafted him. Such an awesome feeling.

Here's to it turning out just as good. :D

Just so you know, if this kid flames out, it's YOUR ass on the block.

:D

I hope he'll eventually be a good player, i just don't expect it to happen immediately. Nothing really to do with him as a player, just as a rookie DL coming into a situation with an already pretty stacked DL rotation.

He got by in college alot on athleticism alone, I think it will take a little while for him to get the technique down, but I'm hoping he has success as a pass rush specialist and sub pass rusher this season.

Basically, I don't ever expect much from a rookie DL.

When I say good talent I mean good NFL talent that has done a good job against NFL DL. Jones did a great job against college players, but I want to see him against a good vet to gauge how he stacks up early.

As for playing time, it feels an awful lot like the Dee Ford pick in some ways. Poe, Howard and Bailey are legit talents. That's 3 talented guys in front of him.
Also keep in mind that most of the time in the nickel defense we only have 2 DL instead of 3.
I doubt he'll be taking many snaps from Poe or Howard this year.

I kinda like Nick Williams too, wondering if he'll make an impact this year as well.

I'm worried about our defense going in to the season. Lot of change and new faces. No Houston for a while, DJ and Hali a year older.

Hopefully some of the young guys really come on strong.

I definitely don't expect our defense to be great off the bat.

The difference this year is our offense should win some games for us. If the OL plays well early on like I think it will, I fully expect to hit the ground running on that side of the ball.

That's par for the course for this regime thus far, though, and we always seem to manage.

I'm worried as well but I'm going to choose to have faith this time.

Hopefully. Gonna need the offense to become more explosive. I hope the mix of vets and young guys on d really come on strong though.

Yes, but they've normally had their big guns on d still to replace around. I hope they can get by without him for a bit, but to make a January run, they need HOuston healthy.

Idk, man. We've gone without Houston, DJ and Berry for significant time over the past three seasons with hella new faces being shuffled in and seem to do well.

True.

But the run d really suffered without DJ and Berry in 14 and I don't think they can beat the top of the line Qb's come nutt cutting time in the playoffs without Houston going full bore.

Luckily, thats a bit of a ways off for us.

Plus, selfishly, I wanna see all guns blazing.

I don't think he's really down on Jones as much as rookie DL players typically aren't big contributors as rookies.

That's exactly what I think will happen.

Improved offensive line play, the return of JC, and Conley/Hill will make us more explosive.