Christian Jones

Current Contract

Contract Value Index (CVI)

The Cardinals secured a low-risk depth piece with Christian Jones' four-year, $4.3M deal that earns a C+ CVI — a fair contract that neither excites nor concerns. At just $1.1M annually with minimal guaranteed money ($300K), Arizona is essentially betting on developmental upside without meaningful financial exposure for an offensive tackle who projects as a backup or swing option. The contract structure heavily favors the team with such low guarantees, allowing them to cut bait after any season without significant dead money if Jones fails to develop into a reliable contributor. This represents classic roster-building pragmatism — the Cardinals aren't overpaying for proven production, but they're also not getting a steal on a player who has yet to establish himself as more than a replacement-level option. The deal makes sense as organizational depth, giving Arizona a young tackle to develop while maintaining maximum flexibility if he doesn't pan out.

Performance Analysis

At just 25 years old and two seasons into his NFL career, Christian Jones currently grades as a replacement-level offensive tackle — a depth-chart player whose profile doesn't yet warrant serious consideration as a starter at the position. His most significant data point heading into 2026 is the sheer scarcity of it: only two games of meaningful action on record, which is the clearest possible signal of where he stands in the Cardinals' offensive line hierarchy. That razor-thin sample size is both his biggest weakness and the core reason his performance grade sits at a D- — there simply isn't enough on-field production to evaluate, and what little exists hasn't moved the needle. The Arizona Cardinals have been active in the offseason, adding bodies across multiple positions, and that flurry of roster-building activity only reinforces that Jones is competing for depth snaps rather than operating with any roster security. His $1.1M annual contract on a rookie scale deal reflects exactly that developmental standing — the organization is carrying him as a project, not a cornerstone. The media framing around Jones is telling in its own right: the near-total absence of coverage, positive or negative, suggests a player the league has yet to form an opinion about, which at year two is itself a neutral-to-concerning sign. If Jones can't carve out a defined role during the 2026 offseason program, his path to sticking on the roster beyond this season gets considerably narrower.