LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Velus Jones Jr. stuck with the Bears as they formed their initial 53-man roster this year. For now, it appears he’s going to get an opportunity to impact the game however he can, whether that’s special teams, at wide receiver or running back.
When going through roster projections, Jones Jr.’s status was one of the hardest to predict. What made things especially cloudy is that the Bears all but officially changed Jones Jr.’s position halfway through the summer.
Ahead of the team’s second preseason game of the year, coaches moved Jones Jr. from wide receiver to running back to see if he could make more plays by getting the ball in his hands directly. Even as he learned the new position, he looked impressive both in practice and in preseason games. Jones Jr. displayed the same burst we’ve seen from him on kickoff returns, and brought physicality to the room. His bigger frame helped him churn out extra yards as defenders tried to bring him down.
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“He’s shown so much as a ball carrier,” said running backs coach Chad Morton. “Even when I first got here, I saw him on tape running the ball and it’s like, ‘Oh, he needs to be a running back.’ So I’ve been kind of chirping a little bit and just the matchup problem that he can create, just like a Deebo Samuel type where he can still be a receiver but line up in the backfield and still run the ball.”
Yet, the running backs room is crowded with D’Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert, Roschon Johnson and Travis Homer all ahead of him on the reps list. It’s fair to wonder how much Jones Jr. would touch the ball with so many other playmakers on the team.
Obviously, Jones Jr. showed enough intriguing playmaking ability to stick around.
“I'm glad he's in the room,” said Swift. “He's probably the funniest guy in the room, but that's outside football talent. His energy, his toughness — strong, physical, fast.
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“Ceiling's real high for him. I love him.”
Jones Jr. has played a little bit of running back in the past, both in high school and his senior year at Tennessee. The Bears used him a bit in the running game and tap pass game– which is essentially an extension of the run game– in his rookie season, too.
Yet he’s still got a lot to learn at the position. It’s not just secure handoff and run forward. He’s got to learn all the appropriate motions, blocking assignments, gap keys and more. When a particular play was schemed up for him in the past, he didn’t need to worry about all those other details. He just needed to get that one play down pat. If he’s going to make it as a running back, he’s going to need to absorb the running back playbook.
Swift believes that as he becomes more comfortable with those nuances, his natural talents will begin to shine through more than they have already.
“I believe you saw a glimpse of that.”
To complicate matters further, the Bears have started rotating Jones Jr. back in with the wide receivers now that their 53-roster is formed. He’s still working with the running backs, too, which makes him one of the busiest dudes at practice. In the end Jones Jr. might not be a wide receiver and he might not be a running back. He could be a blend of the two as an all-around offensive playmaker. And the Bears seem to like it that way.
“To try to defend that when he comes in the game is a little bit different than just a normal type of receiver, or a guy that can line up in the backfield,” said head coach Matt Eberflus. “I think it creates a little bit of time-on-task practice-wise for the opponent and also preparation-wise in the film study.”
It’s unclear how much Jones Jr. will actually see the field this season on offense, and how many times he’ll get the ball in his hands. Any type of production from the third-year player, at any position, could be considered a bonus in this offense that is loaded with talent.