Run Defense ~ Awesome. Just awesome. If you can get by his Weight ~ and I strongly suggest that you do!! ~ Jones has what is far more crucial to Success and that of course is Core Power. He's built phenomenal Core Power in the Weight Rooms over the Years, and it shows on the Field. Combined with outstanding Acceleration and Closing Speed, exceptional Mechanics, navigating Traffic, and great Tackling, and I believe he'll become a Force.
Pass Coverage ~ Phenomenal. Phenomenal. Jones brings spectacular Core Agility ~ Fluidity ~ to the table, and that translates into Verticity ~ Turn & Burn Acuity, Earthlings ~ on the level of a Defensive Back. A good one.
Pass Rush ~ Raw but loaded with Potential: Launch Velocity, Closing Speed, Fluidity, and quick, violent Hands. Oh, yeah.
Intangibles ~ Outstanding.
Intangibles: Outstanding. Yep. Mind you: On Tape, Jones is often hesitant or slow to Read & React to changes in the Tactical LandScape before'm. Based on Tape alone ~ and Tape is King ~ I'd have to give Jones a Failing Grade.
After all: It's not as if he's played 3 different Positions in 3 Years, which cripples, indeed obliterates his chances of settling in, setting down, and immersing himself in the thousands of nuances of the Role for long enough to master it.
And it's not as if he's played 3 different Positions in 3 Years, thus making it unmistakably clear that World Champion Head Coach Jimbo Fisher and the World Champion Coaches at Florida State have had complete Confidence in the cerebral Capacity of Jones to start from Scratch 3 Years in a row and play at a World Championship level.
Oh, wait.
Actually, he has.
I'm not worried about'is Processing Speed or Field Vision.
I consider these a definite Strength.
Another thing that's easy to get wrong with Christian Jones is his Power.
Looking at'm, it's easy ~ for most, anyway ~ to fret about'is Size and worry about'is Capacity to work his way through Traffic that consists of brutish behemoths. Those are of course precisely the concerns that caused LaVonte David to be inexplicably available at the end of the 2nd Round in 2012, despite his clear SuperStar Potential.
I and my buddy on the FanBoards who wishes to remain Anonymous but who deserves this tangential reference saw that what mattered was not Size but Core Power. Core Power is what I've been preaching about since the mid-13th Century, and Core Power is what's been enabling smaller men to defeat and indeed to destroy behemoths 50 and even 100 Pounds heavier than them since the beginning of Time. Core Power, that is, and Agility. And Brains.
Jones has all of them in abundance, and is far more powerful at the Point of Impact than most seem to perceive.
And he's got tremendous Potential as a Pass Rusher.
Far more crucially to a Team trying to build a 21st Century Defense, though, is the extraordinary Capability that Christian Jones brings to Pass Coverage. Simply put: The young man is a Natural, and has the Potential to make an enormous Impact on the Game at the Next Level. His Capacity is the kind that impacts when it matters most.
His Potential, indeed, is to become the kind of Defender that is essential to Making War upon the dynamic Hybrid Offenses of the 21st Century: Covering vast swaths of Real Estate rapidly and Making Plays against The Very Best.
