Bears receiver Velus Jones Jr. has dealt with plenty of adversity during his rookie season, where he’s been unable to carve out a role for himself on offense or special teams.
Most of Jones’ on-field action has come on special teams, where he’s served as both a kickoff and punt returner. Jones, who missed the first three games of the season due to injury, notably muffed two punts in his first few outings. Since then, he’s been exclusively on kickoffs as a return man.
With Chicago down their four top receivers against the Eagles, Jones was presented an opportunity to make an impression on offense. He made one, alright, just not the kind he wanted to make.
After the Bears defense had forced an Eagles punt, the offense had a chance to march down the field. Unfortunately, a Jones fumbled prevented the opportunity.
So how is Bears coach Matt Eberflus handling the situation with Jones?
“I would just say like anybody that goes through adversity, just be encouraging,” Eberflus said Monday. “Encourage them. Teach. Fundamentally teach what we need to do during that moment with the clasp hand and reaching five points of pressure. That’s really it. Drill it and drill it and drill it.”
The problem is, Jones keeps making critical mistakes that have cost the team. So how does Eberflus handle that?
“I mean, would just say challenge,” Eberflus said. “You got to challenge em. So, with encouragement, you also have to challenge. You got to challenge them to do things right in practice every single time. You know it terms of catching the ball, violently tucking the ball and then keeping the ball tucked through traffic and all the way through the down. So that’s what we really are going to do. We are going to challenge him to do that in practice and then we will see it in the games.”
Jones has been the most disappointing draft pick in GM Ryan Poles’ first draft class, and it’s hard to imagine he’ll serve a significant role outside of special teams and the occasional touch on offense.
Could Jones’ latest fumble result in his losing playing time down the stretch?
“That’s a discussion we have to have as a group,” Eberflus said. “We’ll look at it during the course of the week and we’ll assess that as we go.”
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