Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune says that wide receiver Velus Jones
has no specific goals in mind for the final seven games of the season.
“Just to be available,” he said. “When my name is called, make a play and help this team win.”
For any ordinary receiver this would be the right response. But I kind of wonder if it is in Jones’s case.
My impression is that Jones is the kind of guy that wants to hit a home run every time he gets on the field. He has a big play in mind every single time the ball comes his way. Ordinarily that’s what you want in a player but in Jones’s case it leads to critical mistakes.
Jones was the punt returner for the first six games of the season but was benched after muffing a punt against the Washington Commanders. He had previously muffed a punt against the Giants in week four.
Something tells me that what the Bears really need, at least at first, is for Jones to just do his job. Perhaps he should be concentrating first on that rather than “making a play”. Perhaps if he just concentrates on catching the ball, big plays will naturally come his way as the opportunity arises. In any case, I suspect that he just needs do the minimum first and then see if he can build upon that to make big plays. It’s possible that Jones needs to crawl before he can walk.