What happened to Josh Jones?

[SD Cheesehead]

Loved this guy when we drafted him. Athletic freak who seemed like a great replacement for Burnett but after his injury earlier this year I haven’t seen or heard anything on him. Anybody know if the injury is still bothering him or why he isn’t even showing anything on ST’s?

 

[Mondio]

He had trouble in coverage last season when pressed into playing that role. But that's was kind of the norm for everyone i guess LOL

anyway, I think he's working his way back from an ankle injury. Played mostly special teams last week and I think it was his first back?. I see them easing him in, but right now in combination of WHitehead, Brice and Ha Ha are going to be primary safeties for now. He's going to have to beat one of them out for more playing time.

 

[SD Cheesehead]

Hope he gets healthy soon then. His size and athleticism along with haha, jaire, Jackson, Burks, and our D line would be some speed and size we haven’t had in years.

 

[Caya]

Can we just play this guy at inside linebacker and see what he can do there? I think that sometimes you can peg someone for a particular position, and keep on trying to make it work when it’s not working out at that position. Try him at ILB Before we write him off as a player.

 

[HardRightEdge]

I think he's working his way back from an ankle injury. Played mostly special teams last week and I think it was his first back?.

Right on the ankle; right that he was inactive the first 3 weeks. He did not take a defensive snap against the Bills. He did record a tackle on ST. Whitehead has gotten in the work ahead of him so Whitehead is getting the snaps.

Week 4 especially was a missed opportunity. With only 3 DBs active against the Bills, the Packers played 3 safeties on about 65% of the snaps. We'll see how he fits in the coming coming weeks.

 

[RRyder]

Can we just play this guy at inside linebacker and see what he can do there? I think that sometimes you can peg someone for a particular position, and keep on trying to make it work when it’s not working out at that position. Try him at ILB Before we write him off as a player.

We tried him at LB in sub packages last season. He was pretty bad there

 

[HardRightEdge]

Can we just play this guy at inside linebacker and see what he can do there? I think that sometimes you can peg someone for a particular position, and keep on trying to make it work when it’s not working out at that position. Try him at ILB Before we write him off as a player.

It was his coverage ability out of the ILB spot that was the problem last season, leading to the drafting of Burks to play the hybrid ILB role while moving Jones to safety. I suppose if Burks gets injured again while Jones is healthy, we might see him back at ILB for nickel and dime snaps. He should not be written off yet, though I don't think his Packer future is at ILB.

 

[Jerellh528]

Can we just play this guy at inside linebacker and see what he can do there? I think that sometimes you can peg someone for a particular position, and keep on trying to make it work when it’s not working out at that position. Try him at ILB Before we write him off as a player.

What? Lol this is his second season and he’s shown some promise at that safety spot which is prolly why they were comfortable letting Morgan go. I would hardly say we keep trying and it’s not working, we haven’t even seen him in Pettines system yet. I don’t think anyone has written him off, if they have, that’s silly.

 

[906Fan]

If Jones can’t beat out Brice then I’ll be sad.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

anyway, I think he's working his way back from an ankle injury. Played mostly special teams last week and I think it was his first back?

True, Jones didn't receive any snaps on defense vs. the Bills but played a total of 16 snaps on special teams.

Week 4 especially was a missed opportunity. With only 3 DBs active against the Bills, the Packers played 3 safeties on about 65% of the snaps.

FWIW CB Tony Brown, who was promoted from the practice squad on Saturday, was active as well and even played three defensive snaps.

If Jones can’t beat out Brice then I’ll be sad.

Jones definitely isn't a fit at free safety.

 

[Caya]

What? Lol this is his second season and he’s shown some promise at that safety spot which is prolly why they were comfortable letting Morgan go. I would hardly say we keep trying and it’s not working, we haven’t even seen him in Pettines system yet. I don’t think anyone has written him off, if they have, that’s silly.

When he was healthy in the preseason, he looked pretty lost in coverage. I wouldn’t say that I’m giving up on him at the safety position. I think we should just try him out at inside linebacker and safety and see where he looks most comfortable.

 

[Caya]

We tried him at LB in sub packages last season. He was pretty bad there

Oh, I guess I forgot about that.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

When he was healthy in the preseason, he looked pretty lost in coverage. I wouldn’t say that I’m giving up on him at the safety position. I think we should just try him out at inside linebacker and safety and see where he looks most comfortable.

Jones actually performed at a pretty decent level during this year's preseason, even in coverage. Unfortunately that doesn't automatically translate to success in the regular season.

 

[SD Cheesehead]

I just feel like our best defensive lineup would be
DL: Clark, Daniels
OLB: Perry, Matthews
MLB: Martinez, Burks
CB: King, Alexander, Jackson
S: Haha, Jones

This defense has size, speed, and aggressiveness for days. With this lineup we also have some decent depth behind them to give them a breather and throw in a few different wrinkles that Pettine has been dialing up.

 

[OldSchool101]

Josh is not an immediate solution for us, but he is an upgrade over Brice. He had significant rookie experience and has an ideal blend of size and speed. He played a lot with the first team before the season got rolling covering Graham, Geronimo etc.. and that’s a significant glimpse inside the minds of those who make the decisions.

I think we will see influx of him in the coming weeks. But with Whitehaed and Dix playing well, I don’t think we should fold on a hot hand to see what’s in the blind. I’ll stay on a pair of 6s Queen high and let’s see the Josh turn card the next couple weeks and see how he fits into a pretty decent hand.

 

[rodell330]

He’s better than Brice so idk what the issue is. I guess they’re trying to work him back in.

 

[gbgary]

he's a tweener. not being anything specifically gets you buried in the depth chart.

 

[PackerDNA]

Jones problem has always been from the neck up. He's been noted even in college as having a hard time grasping the game mentally. Maybe he's just a great athlete and not a football player.

 

[easyk83]

Jones is more of an old world in the box safety, someone you'd pair with a bona fide center fielder. Unfortunately we dont have a center fielder type to allow us to play Jones in the box every snap.

 

[easyk83]

Jones problem has always been from the neck up. He's been noted even in college as having a hard time grasping the game mentally. Maybe he's just a great athlete and not a football player.

They said the same thing about Collins for years, until Woodson taught him how to actually break down tape. Don't try to figure out every aspect of an opponents playbooks, just look for a couple noticeable tendencies and exploit them.

 

[shockerx]

does anyone recall last year game where Jones when off ....couple sacks and tackles for a loss...how was he schemed that game. I kown he played up near the line... was he hybrid ILB? the game was early in the season. next question has he played that roll since then?

 

[PackerDNA]

They said the same thing about Collins for years, until Woodson taught him how to actually break down tape. Don't try to figure out every aspect of an opponents playbooks, just look for a couple noticeable tendencies and exploit them.

Let's hope that's the case here too.

 

[C-Lee]

does anyone recall last year game where Jones when off ....couple sacks and tackles for a loss...how was he schemed that game. I kown he played up near the line... was he hybrid ILB? the game was early in the season. next question has he played that roll since then?

Bengals game week 3. He pretty much disappeared after that game which was disappointing.

 

[easyk83]

Let's hope that's the case here too.

I doubt he has the makeup of a Nick Collins, Collins was built like a runningback. Low to the ground and thickly built but blazing fast while Jones looks more like an undersized linebacker, I doubt he has the same acceleration or change of direction ability to work in coverage like Nick did. Also Nick came in as a deep safety while Jones came in as an in the box specialist. He's the kind of player that needs to play somewhere between safety and linebacker in a non traditional role. I think he could be effective playing downhill attacking out of safety nickel slash linebacker spot. Trouble is that Burks might be better against the run and pass and I don't think that Dix can cover enough ground to play centerfield, so we need another deep safety out there with him typically.

Right now I think JJ is a spot player, put him in when you want to attack an offense and play him downhill. He's at his best attacking or threatening around the edges. He is a load blitzing out of that nickel spot and offenses have to account for a player with that kind of speed size combination coming weak side.

 

[PikeBadger]

They said the same thing about Collins for years, until Woodson taught him how to actually break down tape. Don't try to figure out every aspect of an opponents playbooks, just look for a couple noticeable tendencies and exploit them.

Which works pretty well especially when you have the talent to create turnovers and change games the way Woodson and Reggie White did. It’s kind of like watching Christian Yelich the past month. Everyone on the field knows he’s the best player on the field and knows that sooner or later, it’s going to show.