Can DJ play up to the contract he signed?
Right now D.J. Jones has the third largest cap hit for the Denver Broncos in 2024 at $12.96MM Behind only Courtland Sutton and Garett Bolles. Jones signed a three year thirty million dollar contract with Denver in 2022 and is in the final year of that contract with only three million in dead money on the deal.
D.J. Jones
Position: DT
6-0, 305lb (183cm, 138kg)
Team: Denver Broncos
Born: January 19, 1995 in Greenville, SC (Age: 29-202d)
NFL experience: 8th season
College: East Mississippi CC, Mississippi
Weighted Career AV (100-95-…): 34 (3269th overall since 1960)
Draft: San Francisco 49ers in the 6th round (198th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Jones role with the 2024 Broncos
DJ has never matched his final season with the 49ers when he had 10 TFL and 40 solo tackles. In fact he had 17 TFL combined in his last two seasons with the 49ers and has only had 8 in his first two seasons with the Broncos. Of course, for IDL players stats can be very misleading because so much of their games is occupying offensive linemen so that the ILBs can make plays. That being said DJ has not lived up to the hype in terms of his ability to be a premier run stuffing DT. Here are his PFF overall grades by year
- 2017 – 56.5
- 2018 – 58.0
- 2019 – 67.8
- 2020 – 61.3
- 2021 – 73.2
- 2022 – 63.6
- 2023 – 56.2
This is not surprising as many players have a career year before they become free agents. As such we might expect DJ to have his best year in Denver in 2024, that is if he survives cap casualty cuts. He’s also reaching the age when IDL players being to lose their quickness. I should also point out that he did get credited with three forced fumbles in 2023 which was a career high and led the team (five players forced two). In 2023 Jones also played a career high 568 defensive snaps (54%) despite missing one game with injury.
With the IDL being a major weakness for the 2023 Broncos who struggled mightily to stop the run allowing a league worst 5.0 yards per carry. That marked the first time in a long time where the Broncos had the worst run defense in the league (oddly enough the last time with the 1997 season – when the Broncos won their first Super Bowl – they were 30th of 30 teams).
The 100 worst run defenses in NFL history since the merger all allowed 4.55 yards per carry or worse. The are eight Bronco teams on the list.
The question for DJ Jones (and for Vance Joseph) is whether the Broncos run defense is going to be good like it was in 2022, the first season DJ Jones was on the team when the Broncos ranked 11th in YPC allowed, or whether the 2024 run defense is going to more resemble the 2023 run defense which was worst in the NFL.
DJ Jones can’t claim to be a great run stuffing defensive end and then play on the worst run defense in the league. Partly since run stuffers are cheap and easy to find and elite run stuffers don’t play on the worst run defense in the league. Based on results and cost, I could easily see DJ Jones looking for a new team on cut-down day. The Broncos already signed Malcolm Roach as a free agent and traded for Jonathan Franklin-Myers. Both of which are quite good against the run and who are significantly cheaper than DJ. The Broncos also have Eyioma Uwazurike (6-6, 318) back from suspension and veteran Angelo Blackson (6-4, 320) who both are good against the run.