Right fit, right time

Jones brings swagger to an Argos defence in need of a jolt

Chris Jones is back in the CFL and back with the Argos.

He’s the perfect guy for a team that has lacked swagger.

What the Argos have lacked is discipline and an alarming deficiency in wrapping up when attempting to make tackles on defence.

Officially, Jones was brought on board to serve as a defensive consultant.

Unofficially, he’s the defensive co-ordinator who will make the play calls Friday night when the Montreal Alouettes visit BMO Field, the first of four games for the Argos against Eastern opponents.

As early as Monday, head coach Ryan Dinwiddie said the Argos would have Rich Stubler calling the plays, a role the veteran served last week in Regina when the Riders ran roughshod over the visitors.

When the Argos couldn’t stop the run, they couldn’t tackle or avoid turning the ball over.

When the offence did move the ball, the Argos could only produce three points on two trips inside Saskatchewan’s five yard line.

Jones last coached in Saskatchewan.

He nearly won the Riders a Grey Cup, but then took a role with the NFL’S Cleveland Browns.

He returns to Toronto for his second stint as an Argo after he stepped down from a job as head coach at his high school alma mater in Tennessee.

Jones is all about winning. He cares less of winning over fans, cares even less on how he’s perceived.

He’s in it to win and knows the fleeting nature that is pro football, where one minute you’re with one organization, the next you’re somewhere else.

During his Zoom call Tuesday, Jones was asked about his future plans in Toronto.

Not surprisingly, his focus was on this year as it should be.

The Argos didn’t bring him back in town to worry about the future.

“It’s good to be back,’’ said Jones. “You compete to win a championship.

“That’s why they brought me here.”

The Argos’ roster is built for this season.

Once COVID cancelled the 2020 season, a new landscape was shaped in three-down football, one where money was tight and many veterans became available either in free agency or when finances forced high-profiled players to get moved.

Toronto has a plethora of CFL vets who are under contract for this season.

At 3-3, the Argos are in the hunt for top spot in the East.

The class act in the league remains the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a team the Argos beat at BMO Field.

The Argos aren’t that far off from being legitimate Cup contenders.

Jones is more than capable of taking them over the top.

John Murphy, the team’s VP of player personnel, signed players or acquired players he later signed who fit the Jones mould well before Jones even became available to the Argos.

When Jones first joined the Argos in 2012, he helped shape a championship defence.

At the time, the Argo were fined $5,000 by the league for what it deemed as tampering.

Jones was working with the Calgary Stampeders, the same team the Argos would beat in the 100th Grey Cup.

Following his run in Toronto, Jones became head coach in Edmonton and led the club to a Grey Cup title.

He then was given complete autonomy in Saskatchewan and came within a third-down completion from advancing to the Grey Cup, a title the Argos won following their home win in the East Final over the Riders.

There’s no better football individual than Jones, whose signing with the Argos was a no-brainer once Jones and his family decided to jump at the opportunity.