Christian Jones (born May 12, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the Texas Longhorns and was selected by the Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft.

Early life

Born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Jones grew up playing soccer and did not try out football until his junior year at

Cypress Woods High School Cypress Woods High School, commonly known as Cy Woods, is a secondary school located in Cypress, which is an unincorporated area of Harris County, Texas, United States, near Houston. The principal of Cypress Woods is Gary Kinninger. The school ...

. He started as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

and posted 17 tackles in 2016, before also playing

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

in 2017; he was team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in his last year and was first-team all-district. A three-star recruit, he committed to play

for the Texas Longhorns after having flipped from the SMU Mustangs.

College career

As a true

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

at Texas in 2018, Jones saw no playing time. He then played 13 games on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

in 2019. He became a full-time starter in the 2020 season, starting all 10 games, including nine at

right tackle Tackle is a playing position in gridiron football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a tackle played on both offense and defense. In the modern system of specialized units, o ...

and one at left tackle. In 2021, he started all 12 games. Jones then started all 13 games in the 2022 season and was named honorable mention All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

after helping

Bijan Robinson Bijan Robinson (born January 30, 2002) is an American football running back for the Texas Longhorns. He won the Doak Walker Award in 2022. Early years Robinson attended Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, Arizona. During his career he ha ...

run for 1,580 yards and 18

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s. He returned for a final season in 2023 and started all 13 games, being named honorable mention all-conference and second-team All-Texas by '' Dave Campbell's Texas Football''. He ended his collegiate career with 61 games played, 48 as a starter, and was invited to the Senior Bowl.

Professional career

Jones was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft.

References

External links

Arizona Cardinals bioTexas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Christian 2000 births Living people American football offensive linemen Arizona Cardinals players Players of American football from Houston Texas Longhorns football players