Chargers defensive tackle Justin Jones has flashed in glimpses since entering the league back in 2018, but he hasn’t put it all together.
That could change for Jones this upcoming season.
In head coach Brandon Staley’s defense, Jones will have a role that will get him in favorable matchups and give him and his teammates more opportunities to disrupt plays.
“This year, I feel like I’m gonna get a lot more one-on-ones and that’s gonna let me really showcase my abilities and talents,” Jones said.
Last season, the Rams led the league in sacks with 53 under Staley while the Chargers had only nearly half of that.
The reason why the Rams were consistently getting home was because Staley utilized multiple fronts/alignments and schemed twists/stunts, pressure packages and 1-on-1 matchups.
The past few seasons, Jones was primarily used as an interior defender to use his strength to hold his own at the point of attack against run, but he has shown the movement skills and baseline pass rush moves to win matchups.
Other members, Linval Joseph, Jerry Tillery, Joey Bosa, Uchenna Nwosu, among others will be in ideal situations to dominate in the trenches.
“We’ve got a lot more space now which frees a lot of us up. That’s going to give us opportunities to get these one-on-ones and expose them.”
Here’s an example of how Staley puts his front in position to succeed.
Aaron Donald crashes the B-gap to draw the double team and Sebastian Joseph-Day twists to only have a wide opening en route to sacking Russell Wilson.
Here, the guards are threatened with Leonard Floyd and Justin Hollins applying pressure and Aaron Donald aligned outside to draw the tackle. Morgan Fox now only has the center blocking him. Wins with quickness + swipe/rip to bring down Kyler Murray.
