Los Angeles Chargers: Three questions entering preseason week 1

2. How much of an impact will Justin Jones have?

The Los Angeles Chargers needed to draft a run-stopping defensive tackle in the 2018 NFL Draft. While it was not the team’s top priority, it was a big enough priority to warrant using a third-round selection on North Carolina State’s own, Justin Jones.

The Chargers actually boast a pretty good defensive tackle duo of Corey Liuget and Brandon Mebane. However, the two were not great at stopping the run and with Liuget serving a four-game PED suspension, drafting Jones became an obvious move for the Chargers to make.

Jones is undoubtedly going to be in the starting lineup for the first four weeks of the year and he replaces Liuget in the defensive line. However, it is his role after those four weeks that is still up in the air.

While those four weeks will definitely be a telling sign of what to do with Jones, the Chargers are first going to get a feel for the rookie defensive tackle in the preseason.

In week one against the Cardinals, Jones should see the most snaps at defensive tackle so the team can properly gauge his performance and the kind of impact he is set to make in his rookie season.