Chiefs UDFA Spotlight: Harvard EDGE Truman Jones

A three-year starter and team captain at Westminster School in Atlanta, Georgia, Jones had offers from all of the top Ivy League schools and interest from a half dozen others. He enrolled at Harvard in 2018, appearing in just three games as a true freshman.

Jones burst onto the scene as a productive contributor in 2019, recording the second-most sacks (6.5) in the Ivy League that season. He worked his way up to become the 148th team captain in Harvard football history during his senior campaign, which saw him earn a unanimous First-Team All-Ivy League selection.

Stats

Harvard (2018-2022): 30 games played, 88 total tackles, 28.5 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, four passes defended, three forced fumble, one fumble recovery and four blocked kicks.

Combine & pro day results

Height: 6-3

Weight: 250

40-yard dash: 4.66s

Vertical: 37 inches

Broad: 122 inches

Bench: 17

3-Cone: 7.3s

Short Shuttle: 4.37s

Highlights & film

Fit with the Chiefs

Interest was high in Jones as he was one of just 30 players to take a pre-draft visit with Kansas City.

During rookie minicamp weekend, Jones’ position was listed as “DPR” on the three-day practice roster. It’s a rarely-used position designation that stands for “Designated Pass-Rusher.” While Jones is now listed as a defensive end on the team’s official roster, this gives us an idea of how the team views him. He probably won’t ever be a base end on early downs for this team, but rather a designated pass rush specialist that comes in to get after the quarterback on third- and fourth-down, or longer down-and-distance passing situations.

That’s not to say, he’s incapable of playing the run in certain situations (see the clips above). It just probably won’t be his main mode in Kansas City. It’s possible that he’s trusted in those scenarios down the line, as Frank Clark played the run well last season, even though he was on the lighter side. Power certainly isn’t a concern here so much as size.

As with every undrafted free agent written about in this series, playing special teams will play a part in Jones’ ability to make the 53-man roster. He has 33.5-inch arms and four blocked kicks during his career, so expect him to find some work on the team’s kick-block units at the very least. He boasts elite speed and explosion at his size, so perhaps we could even see him on kick and punt coverage units as well.

2023 UDFA Spotlight Series

Story originally appeared on Chiefs Wire