Kansas City Chiefs DT Chris Jones signed a long-term extension this offseason, bringing five more years of greatness to the Chiefs Kingdom.
As voluntary offseason workouts got underway over the past few months, Jones set a lofty goal for himself. He took to X (formerly Twitter) and responded via quote to a clip that the team shared of him at work during OTAs. His response was simple.
"20+ sacks," he wrote.
This display from Jones isn't anything new. He's set personal and team goals in a public space on social in the past. Sometimes he'd send a social media message about getting back to and winning the Super Bowl. Other times it was Defensive Player of the Year honors that he was after. This is the first time, however, that he's targeting a specific statistical goal.
How realistic is Jones' goal of achieving 20+ sacks in 2024?
Sacks only became an official statistic in the NFL in 1982. There have been only 13 instances in those 42 years since where defenders have recorded 20 or more sacks. If you include unofficial sack numbers from Stathead, that number has increased to 22 instances since 1963. What will make the goal even more difficult to achieve is Jones' age. He's going to have to avoid Father Time to achieve this goal.
Jones just turned 30 years old on Wednesday, July 7. There are only two players in NFL history who have 20+ sacks at 30 years or older, and only one of them occurred before sacks were an official stat. That first instance before the stat existed was Las Angeles Rams DE Deacon Jones in 1968, that was his age 30 season. The second, of course, was Michael Strahan setting the single-season sack record with the New York Giants in 2001. That was also Strahan's age 30 season.
Technically speaking, if Jones were to hit 20+ sacks in the 2024 NFL season, he would be just the second player 30 or older to ever do so officially. The goal isn't impossible, but it's proven to be extremely rare in the history of the NFL. But this Chiefs team has also proven to be rare as they seek a third consecutive Super Bowl title. If anyone has a chance to make it happen, Jones is probably that guy.
