← 1980 DRAFT PLAYER PROFILE R2 · #42 OVERALL · DE

Rulon Jones

Drafted by DEN · GM Edgar Kaiser/staff · Utah St.

All NFL teams

Full-career context

These totals follow Rulon Jones across every NFL team. Draft credit is separated below for each team that selected him.

Games played129
Games started98
Weighted career AV63
Pro Bowls2
AP1 All-Pro1
Career seasons9

Accountability by draft event

What each drafting team received

1980 · Round 2 · #42

DEN draft credit

GM Edgar Kaiser/staff

Team games129
Team starts98
On-team AV73
On-team PB / AP12 / 1
Excellent+5.19 contribution1st of 30 picks for this GM

Games: direct team-season record. Starts: direct team-season record.

An Excellent pick

Rulon Jones was Edgar Kaiser/staff's 1st-best of 30 picks across his career, the best pick of the entire tenure.

His retained-value contribution score (opportunity plus quality plus recognition, with related outcomes collapsed inside each bucket) is +5.19. This is a per-pick accountability metric, separate from Edgar Kaiser/staff's leaderboard composite θ.

The walkthrough below shows which bucket carried the pick: playing time, value quality, or league honors.

Opportunity
Did he earn the field?
Games played
129
on drafting team
Games started
98
on drafting team
Snap-z
0.0
0 modeled seasons
Quality
Was that time valuable?
On-team AV
73
modeled; full weighted AV 63
AV / 1k snaps
snap-era only
AV-rate z
position-year adjusted quality
Recognition
Did the league notice?
Pro Bowls
2
all on drafting team
AP1 All-Pro
1 AP1
all on drafting team · AP2 context 1
All-Decade
0
context only

Did this pick move Edgar Kaiser/staff's grade?

The first chart removes the time axis: every Edgar Kaiser/staff pick is sorted by retained contribution across opportunity, quality, and recognition. Rulon Jones totals +5.19. The second chart breaks that same contribution into the seasons when the evidence arrived. Opportunity and quality can move separately, which keeps high-snap, low-AV profiles from looking cleaner than they are.

Aggregate contribution by player

-3-2-10+1+2+3+4+542. Jones#42 · Rulon Jones · aggregate +5.19Jones +5.2131. Winder#131 · Sammy Winder · aggregate +3.61Winder +3.6157. Bishop#157 · Keith Bishop · aggregate +3.26Bishop +3.315. Smith#15 · Dennis Smith · aggregate +2.88Smith +2.9186. Kay#186 · Clarence Kay · aggregate +2.48Kay +2.5125. Lanier#125 · Ken Lanier · aggregate +2.40Lanier +2.4131. Harden#131 · Mike Harden · aggregate +1.9546. Townsend#46 · Andre Townsend · aggregate +1.46181. Busick#181 · Steve Busick · aggregate +1.3778. Lilly#78 · Tony Lilly · aggregate +0.6289. Robbins#89 · Randy Robbins · aggregate +0.3560. Sampson#60 · Clint Sampson · aggregate +0.23172. Dupree#172 · Myron Dupree · aggregate -0.1321. Willhite#21 · Gerald Willhite · aggregate -0.20107. Parros#107 · Rick Parros · aggregate -0.30189. Ruben#189 · Alvin Ruben · aggregate -0.33136. Short#136 · Laval Short · aggregate -0.38159. Smith#159 · Aaron Smith · aggregate -0.42143. Heflin#143 · Victor Heflin · aggregate -0.48125. Baldwin#125 · Bruce Baldwin · aggregate -0.56151. Lewis#151 · Alvin Lewis · aggregate -0.57184. Havekost#184 · John Havekost · aggregate -0.68106. Plater#106 · Dan Plater · aggregate -0.74116. Harris#116 · George Harris · aggregate -0.814. Hinton#4 · Chris Hinton · aggregate -0.8674. Carter#74 · Larry Carter · aggregate -1.0142. Brown#42 · Clay Brown · aggregate -1.1850. McDaniel#50 · Orlando McDaniel · aggregate -1.1931. Cooper#31 · Mark Cooper · aggregate -1.3798. Herrmann#98 · Mark Herrmann · aggregate -3.40Herrmann -3.4

Incremental contribution by season

-8-6-4-20+2+4+6+8+101980 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.081980 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.261980 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.311980 · Mike Harden · incremental -0.441980 · Laval Short · incremental -0.631980 · John Havekost · incremental -1.121980 · Larry Carter · incremental -1.671981 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.141981 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.251981 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.631981 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.061981 · Mark Herrmann · incremental -0.541981 · Alvin Lewis · incremental -0.941981 · Clay Brown · incremental -1.111981 · Ken Lanier · incremental -1.561981 · Dennis Smith · incremental -2.831982 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.121982 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.121982 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.121982 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.161982 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.231982 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.291982 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.411982 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.051982 · Gerald Willhite · incremental -0.521982 · Alvin Ruben · incremental -0.591982 · Dan Plater · incremental -1.211982 · Orlando McDaniel · incremental -1.881982 · Mark Herrmann · incremental -4.771983 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.051983 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.081983 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.351983 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.451983 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.471983 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.491983 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.531983 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.551983 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.581983 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.021983 · Myron Dupree · incremental -0.241983 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.571983 · Victor Heflin · incremental -0.851983 · Clay Brown · incremental -0.891983 · Bruce Baldwin · incremental -0.981983 · George Harris · incremental -1.331983 · Chris Hinton · incremental -2.991984 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.081984 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.091984 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.091984 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.151984 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.381984 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.421984 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.461984 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.491984 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.551984 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.671984 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.681984 · Sammy Winder · incremental +1.691984 · Rick Parros · incremental -0.071984 · Randy Robbins · incremental -0.141984 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.501984 · Aaron Smith · incremental -0.711985 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.001985 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.101985 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.181985 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.251985 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.271985 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.481985 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501985 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.521985 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.531985 · Steve Busick · incremental +0.591985 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.611985 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.741985 · Rulon Jones · incremental +1.651985 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.351986 · Clint Sampson · incremental +0.091986 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.161986 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.241986 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.471986 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501986 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.511986 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.521986 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.781986 · Keith Bishop · incremental +1.541986 · Sammy Winder · incremental +1.591986 · Rulon Jones · incremental +3.681986 · Gerald Willhite · incremental -0.181986 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.491987 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.061987 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.181987 · Tony Lilly · incremental +0.301987 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.391987 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.391987 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.401987 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.471987 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.481987 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.481987 · Keith Bishop · incremental +1.471987 · Gerald Willhite · incremental -0.001987 · Mark Cooper · incremental -0.101988 · Gerald Willhite · incremental +0.051988 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.121988 · Rulon Jones · incremental +0.201988 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.291988 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.431988 · Mike Harden · incremental +0.501988 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.511988 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.521988 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.531988 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.541989 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.161989 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.311989 · Keith Bishop · incremental +0.331989 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.391989 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501989 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.601989 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.871990 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.071990 · Andre Townsend · incremental +0.201990 · Sammy Winder · incremental +0.281990 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.501990 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.571990 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.811991 · Randy Robbins · incremental +0.161991 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.491991 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.581991 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.871992 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.411992 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.471992 · Clarence Kay · incremental +0.511993 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.811994 · Ken Lanier · incremental +0.041994 · Dennis Smith · incremental +0.31Jones +0.3Carter -1.7Jones +0.6Lanier -1.6Smith -2.8Jones +0.4McDaniel -1.9Herrmann -4.8Jones +0.5Hinton -3.0Jones +0.7Winder +1.7Jones +1.7Bishop +1.5Winder +1.6Jones +3.7Jones +0.5Jones +0.219807 players19819 players198213 players198317 players198416 players198514 players198613 players198712 players198810 players19897 players19906 players19914 players19923 players19931 player19942 players
Above expectationBelow expectationRulon JonesGM total +11.2Rulon Jones by season +8.5

How much retained production did Rulon Jones return vs. his slot?

Each mark below is one player's model value above slot. Light gray marks are slot-similar peers: DEs drafted within ±5 picks of Rulon Jones since 2010 (18 players).The score is the retained production/value bucket from the pick-residual model: on-team AV plus AV-rate quality, adjusted for draft slot, position, and era. Opportunity snaps and league honors are excluded.

-0.50+0.5+1+1.5Model value above slot42. JonesRulon Jones · model value +1.9+1.946. TuittStephon Tuitt · model value +0.737. HallDerick Hall · model value +0.340. MafeBoye Mafe · model value +0.146. PaschalJosh Paschal · model value +0.138. Gross-MatosYetur Gross-Matos · model value -0.144. HoustonLamarr Houston · model value -0.238. EbiketieArnold Ebiketie · model value -0.245. TuimoloauJT Tuimoloau · model value -0.240. CarradineTank Carradine · model value -0.438. SmithPreston Smith · model value -0.446. SpeaksBreeland Speaks · model value -0.544. EzeiruakuDonovan Ezeiruaku · model value -0.547. DavidsonMarlon Davidson · model value -0.542. CorreaKamalei Correa · model value -0.639. SpenceNoah Spence · model value -0.737. SheardJabaal Sheard · model value -0.744. WardJihad Ward · model value -0.941. OjulariBJ Ojulari · model value -1
Rulon JonesSlot-similar peers (18)

Cumulative value over time

Year-by-year running totals since draft. Left axis = games started. Right axis = honors (Pro Bowl / AP1 / AP2). Pre-2013 picks have no games-started line because that comes from per-game snap counts (not available for older players). Honors extend back to 1980.

'80'82'84'86'88025497498012Cumulative GSHonors count
Games started (cumulative) Pro Bowls AP1 All-Pro AP2 All-Pro

Full-career season history (9 scored seasons)

YearTeamGPGSSnapsSnap-zAVAV/snapPBAP1AP2
1980DEN1613
1981DEN16169
1982DEN997
1983DEN12126
1984DEN161611
1985DEN161614·
1986DEN161615
1987DEN12127
1988DEN1601

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