How do you grade 49ers NFL Draft addition D.J. Jones?

The San Francisco 49ers wrapped up the 2017 season and have begun their work to prepare for 2018 free agency and the draft. We’ll be breaking down plenty of what that means, but in the meantime, we wanted to take a look back at the season that was for the 49ers. Jimmy Garoppolo captured our imagination, but the 49ers rebuilding process was extensive last year. We are going to take a look at every notable addition and provide a forum for grading how that signing, trade, or draft pick worked out.

D.J. Jones, defensive tackle
How acquired: Drafted in the sixth round (198th overall)

John Lynch got plenty of production out of his late-round picks, and that includes Jones, a sixth-round pick who played in nine games in his rookie season. Jones participated in 147 defensive snaps, or 13.07 percent. He also took part in 43 special teams snaps, or 9.27 percent. He played just 10 fewer snaps than Aaron Lynch, and more snaps than Ronald Blair, Xavier Cooper and Tony McDaniel.

The stat sheet doesn’t tell us a lot about his performance. He was in on 10 total tackles, with one run stuff and one pass defensed. He was a rotational player whose primary job was to stuff the run and eat up space. I haven’t completed my film review, but I believe he did an average-to-above-average job most of the time, certainly well enough for a sixth-round pick, but not on the level of guys like Adrian Colbert or George Kittle.

Pro Football Focus doesn’t have much to offer, and they have him with a rather poor 51.2 grade, at least that’s what I’m seeing. I’d disagree with that grade immensely, but maybe there’s something horrendous on the tape I haven’t seen yet. Still, my own opinions of him are positive, but he’s not a guaranteed starter or quality depth just yet. I’d say I’m a little more positive about him than the average sixth-round pick, but I wouldn’t call myself giddy.

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