South Africa have slipped to third place in the IRB world rankings and Jones has claimed the World Champions will fall further behind the All Blacks and the Wallabies unless changes are made.
"The Springboks will get worse if they continue in this way," said Jones, who is now working with Guinness Premiership side Saracens.
"No-one in world rugby is playing the way their coach is talking about, not successfully anyway.
"They're attacking off everything. And they're going lateral, not through defences. You have to go through sides like Australia and New Zealand first.
"Knowing the South African players, I would say they would prefer much more discipline. There's no structure in their game at present and they have lost all their discipline.
"The way he is talking is nonsense. You can't just play an expansive, wide game."
De Villiers took over from White in January of this year but, after four defeats from five Tri Nations fixtures, there has been much talk of his potential dismissal.
Jones believes that such an outcome is inevitable unless de Villiers learns from his recent experiences and alters his philosophy on how rugby should be played at the highest level.
"Peter will need to modify his approach. The hard thing for Peter is that he has never coached professionally and this is one of the most difficult teams to coach.
"He has to change his philosophy because it doesn't fit these players. It's not credible. If de Villiers keeps on going down this track he will be unsuccessful.
"This is still a very good squad of players. Most are even at their peak or approaching it. So there is plenty of talent but what they need is the organisation and discipline.
"Peter's big test now is to learn. If he learns, he can turn it around. But, if he continues to be stubborn, he won't last long because his tactics won't work."
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