Players give props to Chandler Jones, Kliff Kingsbury in The Athletic poll
Feb 3, 2020, 10:43 AM
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Arizona Cardinals pass-rusher Chandler Jones and head coach Kliff Kingsbury were two of the Arizona-related subjects brought up in an anonymous polling of NFL players by The Athletic.
The polls, which give a look into the true thoughts and feels of players, positive or negative, were conducted at the Pro Bowl practices in Orlando this January and involved 32 players. These players were spread across both conferences and both sides of the football.
The publication polled players on who is the most underrated player in the league. These answers were divided up by offense and defense, and Jones was the most common answer on the defensive side of the football, getting three votes.
Jones was omitted from the NFL’s Top 100 in August of 2019. He responded by having a monster season, finishing second in the NFL with 19 sacks, leading the league with eight forced fumbles and getting 53 combined tackls and 26 QB hits along the way. He was named to the Pro Bowl and was a first-team All-Pro selection, and finished second place in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year.
Former Cardinals John Brown and Tyrann Mathieu also received votes for most underrated. San Francisco fullback Kyle Juszczyk was the leading vote-getter on offense.
The players were also polled on which coach they’d most like to play for. Thirteen different coaches earned votes on this question, and Kingsbury was among those to get one vote. Surprisingly, the Patriots’ Bill Belichick also only got one vote.
Finally, Phoenix received one vote on the question of which NFL city is the best to travel to. Seven different cities got multiple votes on this question, the leader being sunny Los Angeles.