Tennessee Titans center Ben Jones is routinely underrated when it comes to conversations about the best centers in the NFL, but he’s getting the respect he deserves in a recent rankings done by Touchdown Wire.
According to Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar, Jones is the No. 5 center in the NFL going into 2022, up one spot from his place in last year’s rankings.
Here’s some of what Farrar had to say about Jones (we suggest checking out the full article linked above for Farrar’s film breakdowns of Jones):
Since moving to center full-time for the Houston Texans in the 2014 season, Ben Jones has been one of the elite players on the interior for two different franchises. After signing with the Tennessee Titans prior to the 2016 season, Jones has been dominant in the run game, and a solid contributor in pass protection.
In fact, the past two seasons have seen some of his best work in pass protection. Jones was credited with giving up zero sacks during the 2020 campaign, and followed that up with just one sack allowed last season.
Not only has Jones played at a high level, he was also Tennessee’s best all-around offensive lineman in 2021.
Per Pro Football Focus, the 33-year-old tallied the second-best pass-blocking grade behind left tackle Taylor Lewan, the second-best run-blocking grade behind former right tackle David Quessenberry, and allowed the second-fewest pressures and fewest sacks on the team.
Adding to that, he’s been available, with Jones missing just one game during his 10-year career, which is something to appreciate even more after the Titans fielded an NFL record 91 players in 2021 due to injuries.
The Titans rightly rewarded the veteran with a two-year, $14 million deal, which, based on these rankings, is even more team-friendly than initially thought, as the annual average of Jones’ deal ranks 10th among centers.
