D.J. Jones

9 seasons, 164 tackles, 18.5 sacks — the quiet interior anchor who keeps showing up on Sundays.

Drafted in the 6th round (2017) by San Francisco out of Ole Miss, D.J. Jones is the textbook late-round-find. The 2021 season in SF (37 tackles, 11 TFL) was his breakout — three years later he's still a starting NT, now anchoring Denver's run defense.

The 2025 line is his best pass-rush season since 2021: 4.5 sacks, 8 QB hits, 6 TFL — all from the interior at age 30. A late-career uptick that says the role still fits.

Niners D.J. (5 yrs, 81 tackles) → Broncos D.J. (4 yrs, 83 tackles already) — better volume in the second chapter.

Free agency in 2022 took him to Denver — and the second chapter has already produced more tackles and more sacks than 5 years in SF. Part of that is volume: the Niners had Buckner, Armstead and the rotation, so Jones spelled stars. In Denver he's been the anchor of the run front, not the relief option.

2025: career-high 4.5 sacks at age 30 — better than any year since the 2021 49ers breakout.

Most interior DLs peak in their late 20s and drift out of the role by 30. Jones is going the other direction:

- 2024: 2 sacks, 4 QB hits, 2 TFL - 2025: 4.5 sacks, 8 QB hits, 6 TFL

That's a doubling of pass-rush production in his age-30 season — and the most QB hits he's had since SF (which was a deeper rotation). Denver is asking him to do more, and he's delivering.

6th-round pick → 9-year starter — among the highest-value picks of the 2017 draft.

The 2017 6th round produced a handful of long-career players, but the list of interior DLs from that round still starting in 2025 is short — D.J. Jones, Grover Stewart, and a couple of journeymen.

Nine years, two franchises, 164 career tackles and 18.5 career sacks from the position where the camera rarely points. The Niners drafted him as depth; he's outlasted the entire 2017 SF rotation that drafted him alongside.

6 forced fumbles in his career — a meaningful FF rate for a 321-lb nose tackle.

Nose tackles aren't generally listed near the top of the forced-fumble leaderboards. Jones has 6 career FFs — modest in raw count but striking for his role. Nose tackles get to the ball-carrier mostly via gap penetration, not pursuit, so each FF tends to be a beat-the-block-then-strip moment.

At 6-foot, 321 lbs, he's built for the trench fight. The 6 forced fumbles are evidence that he's still making something happen with his hands once he gets through.