LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Velus Jones Jr. entered Bears training camp firmly on the roster bubble. While many expect the third-year wide receiver to be the Bears' starting kick returner this fall, it's clear that Jones needs to increase his value to cement his spot on the roster.
In an effort to become more versatile, Jones agreed to spend this next week of practice as a running back.
"He was welcome to that, and we feel that because of the versatility of the talent and the skill sets, he offers our offense another way to have a weapon back there," head coach Matt Eberflus said of the change after Tuesday's practice. Again, hopefully, that grows into something, and again, that's [offensive coordinator Shane Waldron] and the offensive staff just being creative and being able to maximize our talents on our roster."
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Jones has spent most of training camp working with the second-team offense while DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, and Tyler Scott take first-team reps. Jones has worked sparingly with the ones along with Collin Johnson and DeAndre Carter.
Jones has struggled with various errors during his first two seasons in Chicago. His route-running is erratic, and he has not developed as the staff envisioned.
Switching to running back is a creative attempt to try to unlock his big-play ability.
"He's got a lot of talent," Eberflus said. "He's open to moving around, again, like we talked about, I think it was maybe last time we visited about, you know, if you're on the fringe of the roster or a guy that is competing for that fifth, sixth spot at receiver, halfback, whatever it might be, the more you can do. You know, if you're a four-core guy in special teams, the more you can utilize your talents across your base of the team, I believe that's a good thing for you, so that's what he's doing."
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Eberflus said the Bears will re-evaluate Jones' role after this week and decide if he will stick at running back or transition back to wide receiver.
"Really just execution and then show us your skill set," Eberflus said when asked what they want to see from Jones at running back. "We're putting you back there because you're fast, you're a bigger, stouter receiver that does a good job in the return game and you can utilize him in a bunch of different spots back there and it will be good to line up in different spots so really just the operation of that."
The Bears are still bullish on Jones' potential to be a dynamic kick returner under the new setup. That alone will likely earn Jones a spot on the 53-man roster. But this move seems to signal, at least in part, that the Bears aren't sure they have room for Jones if he's going to be just a kick returner.
As the Bears start to put their roster puzzle pieces together, Jones is still looking for a way to solidify his place among the final 53.
Proving he can be a more versatile and reliable offensive weapon can do that. But if Jones flops as a back, his chances of making the roster might take a hit as we enter a crucial stretch of camp.