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Matt Jones = Draft Flop?

By River City Rage

I'm hearing a little skuttlebutt in Jacksonville Radio about WR Matt Jones being a bust.

Here are the reasons why I'm starting to agree, in no particular order.

  1. No evidence of top end speed.  Matt pulled a 4.3 40 in the combine.  He's never ran that fast EVER in any sort.
  2. No toughness over the middle.  He's shown an aversion to contact over the middle.
  3.  Too Tall for Crisp Route-Running.  Matt's a huge  tall guy.  But tall folks don't run the cleanest of routes.
  4. No Toughness in Downfield Blocking.  Watch some film, he's a wuss when it comes to throwing the downfield block for the running game.
  5. Addiction to One-Handed catches.  I coached a Sorority Flag Football team this year.  One of the things I drilled on was the V-Face, emphasising the importance of getting two hands around the ball and making the catch.  Matt, who demonstrated that he can't make a two handed catch to save his life, spends time in warmups and practice attempting one-handed catches.
We invested a first round draft pick for a tall fast physical player who's performed like a tall slow contact shy player.  I know it typicaly takes three years to truly see what a player will become, I'm getting very concerned with Matt's development.

This seems to be a trend in Jacksonville.  We are showing a trend of not doing well with our first round picks, while showing a keen eye for late round picks.  Jaguars.com Ask Vic observes

It's amazing the Jaguars are getting so much production from late-round picks such as Bobby McCray, a seventh-rounder who leads the team in sacks. Tony McDaniel and Brian Iwuh are undrafted guys. Josh Scobee and Gerald Sensabaugh are fifth-round picks. Vince Manuwai, Jorge Cordova, Scott Starks and Clint Ingram are third-rounders. Every second and third-round pick from the last four drafts is on the Jaguars roster and other than for Greg Jones, who is out for the year with a knee injury, is contributing in a big way. Here's another one. Every fourth-round pick in the last four years is playing in the league, which includes George Wrighster, LaBrandon Toefield, Ernest Wilford and Alvin Pearman on the Jaguars and Anthony Maddox on the Texans. The Jaguars are getting tremendous production out of every round of the draft except the first.

I'm two games away from declaring Jones a bust.  Reggie, you're on notice as well, you could say just about everything about Matt about Reggie Williams as well.  What's saving Reggie is that he's obviously got something going with Byron, who knows when he's coming back though.

What to do about Matt?  BENCH HIM, make him earn his role.  Give Cortez Hankton a shot.

-Chris

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