The homers on here have defended this guy more than any other player who has been a member of the Kansas City Chiefs in maybe the past 5 years. Too many AP'ers are filled with horrible arguments on why Thomas Jones should be a member of the team this year, and why it wasn't inane for him to get more carries than Jamaal Charles last year. Let's look at the 2 most common arguments in favor of Thomas Jones on arrowheadpride.com and analyze the validity of those arguments.
"He's the bruiser, he moves the pile, and softens(ed) up defenses for Jamaal Charles"
Well for starters, he can't move the pile if he isn't effective on 3rd and short. He can't soften up the defenses when he is constantly getting gang tackled because he can't get to the hole quick enough. And he can't be a bruiser if he doesn't break any tackles. To show you how wrong of a statement that is, I present to you the DVOA statistic created by Football Outsiders. The DVOA statistic was used to determine "the percentage of plays in which a back gained the necessary yardage for a first-down conversion on third down"...and Jones was below average to say the least.
Jones on 3rd downs via Yahoo Sports and Football Outsiders using the DVOA statistic:
"At FO, we've long been on Kansas City head coach Todd Haley's back to have him get Charles more involved in the offense, and we're not the only ones. Haley's familiar claim that Charles isn't a consistent third-down back may be true from a blocking perspective, but it certainly isn't true from a production perspective, especially in contrast to Thomas Jones, who put up a minus-30.9% DVOA, and a 42% Success Rate in those similar situations."
Jamaal Charles' stats that they were referring to by the way: 24.6% DVOA (30 carries, 155 yards, 43% Success Rate)
Jones broken tackle statistics via Football Outsiders........
Most Broken Tackles, 2010 RB |
||||||
Player |
Team |
BT |
Runs |
Rec |
Touches |
BT/Touch |
23-A.Foster |
HOU |
45 |
325 |
68 |
393 |
11.5% |
28-C.Johnson |
TEN |
41 |
316 |
44 |
360 |
11.4% |
25-L.McCoy |
PHI |
38 |
207 |
78 |
285 |
13.3% |
44-A.Bradshaw |
NYG |
38 |
275 |
48 |
323 |
11.8% |
33-M.Turner |
ATL |
38 |
334 |
12 |
346 |
11.0% |
20-D.McFadden |
OAK |
37 |
223 |
47 |
270 |
13.7% |
24-M.Lynch |
BUF/SEA |
36 |
201 |
22 |
223 |
16.1% |
28-A.Peterson |
MIN |
35 |
284 |
36 |
320 |
10.9% |
40-P.Hillis |
CLE |
35 |
270 |
61 |
331 |
10.6% |
22-F.Jackson |
BUF |
34 |
222 |
31 |
253 |
13.4% |
27-L.Blount |
TB |
33 |
201 |
5 |
206 |
16.0% |
34-R.Mendenhall |
PIT |
33 |
324 |
23 |
347 |
9.5% |
Player |
Team |
BT |
Runs |
Rec |
Touches |
BT/Touch |
28-F.Jones |
DAL |
30 |
184 |
49 |
233 |
12.9% |
32-M.Jones-Drew |
JAC |
30 |
300 |
34 |
334 |
9.0% |
32-C.Benson |
CIN |
30 |
321 |
28 |
349 |
8.6% |
39-S.Jackson |
STL |
28 |
330 |
46 |
376 |
7.4% |
29-C.Ivory |
NO |
27 |
137 |
1 |
138 |
19.6% |
25-J.Charles |
KC |
27 |
231 |
45 |
276 |
9.8% |
28-J.Stewart |
CAR |
25 |
178 |
8 |
186 |
13.4% |
27-K.Moreno |
DEN |
25 |
183 |
37 |
220 |
11.4% |
46-R.Torain |
WAS |
22 |
164 |
18 |
182 |
12.1% |
27-R.Rice |
BAL |
22 |
307 |
63 |
370 |
5.9% |
20-J.Forsett |
SEA |
21 |
118 |
33 |
151 |
13.9% |
24-C.Williams |
TB |
21 |
125 |
46 |
171 |
12.3% |
35-M.Tolbert |
SD |
21 |
181 |
26 |
207 |
10.1% |
39-D.Woodhead |
NE |
20 |
97 |
34 |
131 |
15.3% |
are nowhere to be found amongst the top 26 in the league.
You can find him here though.
Lowest Broken Tackle Rate, 2010 RB |
||||||
Player |
Team |
BT |
Runs |
Rec |
Touches |
BT/Touch |
23-T.Choice |
DAL |
2 |
66 |
17 |
83 |
2.4% |
26-C.Wells |
ARI |
4 |
116 |
5 |
121 |
3.3% |
21-L.Tomlinson |
NYJ |
10 |
220 |
52 |
272 |
3.7% |
30-J.Kuhn |
GB |
4 |
84 |
15 |
99 |
4.0% |
42-B.Green-Ellis |
NE |
10 |
229 |
12 |
241 |
4.1% |
21-F.Gore |
SF |
11 |
203 |
46 |
249 |
4.4% |
29-C.Taylor |
CHI |
6 |
112 |
20 |
132 |
4.5% |
23-S.Greene |
NYJ |
10 |
185 |
16 |
201 |
5.0% |
20-T.Jones |
KC |
13 |
246 |
14 |
260 |
5.0% |
22-M.Forte |
CHI |
15 |
236 |
51 |
287 |
5.2% |
So how about we all stop with this "Thomas Jones is a bruiser" commotion huh?
"He is a leader in the locker room and has a great impact on the players"
We hear Jamaal Charles all the time state that having another running back around adds years onto his career and gives him a good breather on the sideline after opening up a can of whoop ass on opposing defenses (he obviously didn't say the whoop ass part but he implies it through his play). Jamaal Charles is absolutely right, having another running back around does give the "primary" back time to get a breather and it can help him have a long lasting career. But in reality, all Thomas Jones really does is give him a breather. Scott Pioli can sign any other healthy player in the league to give Charles a breather. He doesn't actually do much individually as a player.
Again as far as leadership, we are not in the Chiefs locker room so who are we to say how good or bad of a leader he truly is. We've have heard Jamaal Charles reiterate how Thomas Jones' experience with the game has helped him improve as a player, but what else could've Charles said? Was Charles supposed to say, "No, Jones doesn't actually help me that much. I was the first running back to rush for 1,100 yards on less than 200 carries before Jones was a member of the team."??? Jamaal Charles was an elite running back before Thomas Jones was on the team. But i digress, one thing we do know about Thomas Jones is he has gotten in fights with his own teammates on 3 separate occasions. These are just the fights that have been disclosed to the public. Locker room fights are rarely disclosed to the public so for it to happen 3 times with Thomas Jones doesn't show the signs of a leader to me. Among the two players I know of who were in fights with Jones were both recently drafted 1st round picks. He fought Cedric Benson after he was drafted as a 1st round pick in 2005 and of course our own Jonathan Baldwin in 2011. I will refrain from placing hypothetical situations into the matter, but what is known is that he has been in fights with very young players. The fact that a veteran has gotten into fights with players in their first years does not show a sign of a true leader to me.
With all that said, Thomas Jones should no longer have the starting role in the Chiefs offense. Give the rock to McClain and McCluster, let Jones lead the team from the sideline.