It's all semantics, but I won't declare him elite just yet. He had 11.5 sacks in the NFL but when I assess if someone is elite, I use the eyeball test. Is he someone that I'm confident in like a J.J. Watt? Jones doesn't inspire that much-sought-after "elite" appellation.
Sacks are too heavily influenced by circumstances. I think we had the most sacks in the NFL in 2007, for example--even more than the haunting Giants defensive line, but our defense was not reflective of that statistic. Looking at the 2013 squad, Nink had 8 sacks. Is the difference between elite and not elite 3.5 sacks? Another stat: 24 players had double-digit sacks last year between all the defensive linemen (15 DL) and linebackers (9 LB)--excluding playoffs.
I don't have a strong opinion on this, but it's the post-draft and pre-Training camp offseason-purgatory and my football-blood sugar is plummeting precipitously.