D.J. Jones

Denver Broncos

Pos IDL

Updated October 8, 2026

Compare D.J. Jones IDL rankings →

Model Score

72.5 MODEL

2018

67.8

2019

71.5

2020

73.9

2021

75.0

2022

73.4

2023

75.1

2024

70.1

2025

76.0

2026

72.5

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

STM Take

Tier 8 (#58) in 2024 to tier 3 (#24) bounce-back in 2025 is a 34-spot one-year jump that confirms the structural ceiling is still reachable late in Jones's chapter. The Ole Miss SEC 6th-round origin plus nine years of NFL survival give him the rare journeyman late-career résumé. The 2026 question is whether Jones holds tier 4 or better at age 30 or whether the structural late-career decline reasserts.

Jones came out of Ole Miss as the San Francisco 49ers' 6th-round pick (198th overall) in 2017 and spent five years in San Francisco before signing with the Denver Broncos in 2022 free agency. His STTM career runs tier 4 (#29) in 2021 with the 49ers, tier 7 (#51) in 2022 first Broncos year, tier 6 (#44) in 2023, tier 8 (#58) in 2024, and tier 3 (#24) bounce-back in 2025.

Strengths

Tier 3 (#24) bounce-back at age 30 confirms a top-25 IDL ceiling exists when the Vance Joseph scheme aligns.
Nine years of NFL survival across two systems as a 6th-round pick gives him real veteran journeyman value.

Concerns

Career STTM volatility (tier 4 in 2021, tier 6-8 in 2022-2024, tier 3 in 2025) confirms the ceiling is highly scheme-dependent.
Age 30 plus nine years of interior-line wear puts the late-career structural decline question on every 2026 projection.

What to watch: Whether Jones holds tier 4 or better in 2026 with continued Broncos scheme stability, the threshold for confirming the 2025 bounce-back was structural.