The NFL’s best defensive player may reside in the desert:

Chandler Jones has flown under the radar since coming into the league. His league-leading sack totals since 2016 don’t seem to be talked about enough. Many are quick to point out the smaller market Cardinals as the fault. While this certainly doesn’t help, Jones played on the NFL’s premium market New England Patriots before being traded to Arizona. His sack numbers never really seemed to get noticed during his time in New England either.

Following his four-sack performance against the Seattle Seahawks, Chandler Jones is becoming more and more of a household name. Local and national media have erupted with Defensive Player of the Year talks surrounding Jones. This mostly stems from the possibility of breaking Michael Strahan’s single-season sack record. Jones needs four sacks to break the record.

So how does that tie into the Los Angeles Rams? Well, four sacks in back-to-back games would be quite the task. While the Rams have had their fair share of issues in pass protection, the great Andrew Whitworth still blocks Jared Goff’s blindside.

Whitworth didn’t practice Wednesday and Thursday but was a full participant on Friday and has no game designation on the final injury report, meaning he’s set to play. Perhaps the Cardinals move Jones around a bit on certain blitzes. Vance Joseph may need to get creative in order for Jones to break the single-season sack record.

The bad news, in this case, is the Rams’ quick passing attack has held Jones to only 0.5 sacks in their last three meetings. While the Cardinals secondary has improved significantly over the past few weeks, their last matchup against the Rams isn’t very encouraging.

If Chandler Jones wins the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award, it will be a monumental feat for both him and the Cardinals organization.

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