Cardinals OLB Chandler Jones out for season, to have biceps surgery

Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl outside linebacker Chandler Jones has been ruled out for the rest of the season and has opted for surgery to repair a biceps injury, according to head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

“Chan is going to go ahead and have season-ending surgery and he’ll be done,” Kingsbury said Wednesday.

The recovery is expected to take three to four months.

Jones on Sunday left the Cardinals’ 30-10 win against the New York Jets in the second quarter and was ruled out the rest of the game.

Kingsbury said Wednesday that a rotation of outside linebackers Haason Reddick, Kylie Fitts and Dennis Gardeck will fill in for Jones.

“We have guys who have seen playing time this year who will continue to play and get more,” Kingsbury said. “The guys we’ve seen out there, we’ll see out there more.”

The 30-year-old Jones entered the 2020 season regarded as one of the best defensive players in the NFL. He was ranked No. 15 on the NFL’s Top 100 players, following a 2019 in which Jones had 19 sacks. That production earned him a First Team All-Pro selection for the second time in three years.

In Jones’ four years playing for Arizona prior to this season, he had 60 sacks, which was eight more than any other player, per Pro-Football-Reference.com.

With the 19 sacks last season and 17 in 2017, that makes Jones one of two players to reach at least 17 sacks twice in the last 10 seasons, joining the Houston Texans’ J.J. Watt.

Jones had those seasons after signing a five-year, $83 million extension prior to the 2017 season, leaving him under contract through 2021, when he will have a cap hit just over $20 million.

Jones recorded one sack this season but has earned part of the credit for the Cardinals amounting to 14 total due to how offenses gameplan against him.

“They definitely know where he’s at,” Kingsbury said last week of opponents trying to keep Jones off their quarterbacks. “They’re sliding protections that way, using backs, tight ends, and the ball’s coming out quick.”

Reddick, Fitts and Gardeck all earned more snaps when Jones left the field on Sunday. The Cardinals could also welcome back starting outside linebacker Devon Kennard for a Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys after he missed the Jets game with a calf injury.

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