James Jones is Turning Heads

porky88

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http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/PKR01/708010617/1989

Rookie receiver Jones is turning heads

By Pete Dougherty
[email protected]

The Green Bay Packers hope James Jones' fast start in training camp is a sign he'll vindicate their selecting him in the third round of this year's draft.

Jones was nearly an unknown to all but the most serious draftniks when the Packers made him the 14th receiver selected in this year's receiver-rich draft, pick No. 78 overall. But much like Greg Jennings as a rookie receiver last year, Jones has been one of the early standouts in four days of training camp this summer.

No doubt, receivers have a better chance of standing out in practice than most other positions because there's no tackling. And as happens to some or perhaps even many quick-start rookies, Jones could level off as camp goes on, his body wears down and the schemes get more complex.

But there's no question Jones has caught the Packers' attention with his play in team periods, especially Sunday night in full pads and again Tuesday morning in a non-padded workout.

"You notice him," was how offensive coordinator Joe Philbin put it after Tuesday morning's practice.

If Jones wins the Packers' No. 3 receiving job as a rookie, it will run against the prevailing wisdom in NFL scouting circles heading into the draft. During casual conversations this summer, at least five scouts for NFL teams said their clubs had Jones rated as a second-day draft prospect, and most as a late-rounder. One scout who said he studied Jones thoroughly said he'd be surprised if Jones has much of a career in the NFL, let alone play much as a rookie.

Though Jones has good size at 6-foot-1 and about 209 pounds, many scouts questioned his quickness and speed. He ran the 40 in only 4.57 seconds in spring workouts and averaged only 12.8 yards a reception as a senior.

But the Packers saw in his 70 catches in his final season at San Jose State a player similar to Arizona's Anquan Boldin. Boldin is only slightly bigger than Jones (6-05/8 but 216 pounds) and ran a 4.73-second 40 coming out of Florida State, but as a second-round draft pick caught 101 passes as a rookie and has 342 receptions in four seasons in the NFL.

"I'm sure a lot of people just thought (Jones) was a slow possession guy," said Reggie McKenzie, the Packers' director of pro personnel. "He's more than that."

With starter Donald Driver sidelined because of a shoulder injury Saturday through Monday, Jones along with the other receivers got extra work in practice, and he's stood out about as much as the second-round pick Jennings did last year at this point. For instance, Jones leads all receivers in catches during 11-on-11 drills with 16 (Carlton Brewster is second with seven).

In the first practice of camp on Saturday, Jones flashed for the first time when he came back hard to the ball for the kind of catch in traffic that can win a quarterback's confidence. Then in back-to-back team drills Sunday night, Jones caught three passes from quarterback Brett Favre, who seemed to quickly develop trust in the rookie: A slant in front of starting corner Al Harris; a deep cross on a blitz drill on No. 3 cornerback Patrick Dendy; and a fade for a likely long touchdown against backup cornerback Antonio Malone on another blitz.

Also, backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers hit him on a crossing pattern in the blitz drill for what would have been at least a 15- to 20-yard gain.

Then on Tuesday, during a fast-paced team drill with scripted downs and distances but no coaching between snaps, Jones caught two red-zone touchdowns: A leaping 6-yard fade in the corner of the end zone over Dendy on a pass from Rodgers, and a 9-yard touchdown on a quick post from No. 4 quarterback Paul Thompson.

What's helped Jones stand apart from the other receivers vying for the No. 3 job behind Driver and Jennings are his ability to catch the ball with his hands extended on every throw and his sense for getting between the ball and the defensive back, qualities Rodgers said, "are kind of rare as far as receivers go."

"It gives you a lot of confidence when you throw to a guy like that," Rodgers said, "because you know if you throw the ball in his area, it's either going to be a completion or an incompletion. There's no chance of an interception. I threw him a ball two days ago where I was rolling hard to my right and I threw almost across my body, and he came back and made a real good catch on it."

Jones' performance thus far gives him an early lead on Ruvell Martin and Carlyle Holiday, among others, for the No. 3 receiving job. But considering it's only four days into training camp, he has a long way to go to not only win the job, but be a productive player against starting-caliber NFL cornerbacks through a long NFL season.

The Packers are expecting some occasional hard times for Jones in camp, but his ability to maintain generally his current level of play will depend on how well he assimilates the rest of the offense as it's installed in the next couple of weeks. The Packers have implemented almost half the offense so far in camp.

To make things easier for Jones, he's working almost exclusively at flanker, whereas Jennings was so advanced as a rookie he learned all the receiver spots early last year.

"As the (playbook) volume increases, it starts to mount up on guys," said Jimmy Robinson, the Packers' receivers coach. "It's a day-to-day thing. As I always tell these guys, they're the only ones that know how fast they learn, so some guys have to put in more time than others."

Here is another article on James Jones. Looks like he's making some big time plays in camp. Hopefully he can be as productive as Jennings was as a rookie minus the injury. If so we may of hit good with what most had thought was a reach.
 

tromadz

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this is EXACTLY how it started with Jennings.

I actually think there was an article that even said "Rookie receiver Jennings is turning heads"

and this year we got 'Rookie receiver Jones is turning heads'

good info, pork.
 

Greg C.

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It's great to be hearing these things about Jones. It started back in the mini-camps. There are always receivers who are underestimated because their 40 yard dash times were unimpressive. I like what Rodgers says about how you don't have to worry about an interception when you throw to him. That's a huge advantage right there.
 

warhawk

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What's good about this is that the early reports have his strengths actually with pads on and that he wins battles for the ball with DB's.

Good hands and wins the battle for the ball. A perfect #3.

The "not worrying about an interception" when you throw it to him is testimony of his awareness of the ball and the defender and not allowing the DB a path to the ball.

Fergy needs to watch how this is done. That has made him a liability at the #3. He's out there focused on the ball and doesn't keep the DB out and often get's outhustled and outfought.

Jones could turn out to be a great find at #3. You don't need a yards after the catch guy here. You need a tough catch and move the chains guy and someone not afraid to go across and clear the middle.

This is the kind of guy that makes Jennings and Driver bigger play makers.
 

pack_in_black

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Greg C. said:
I like what Rodgers says about how you don't have to worry about an interception when you throw to him. That's a huge advantage right there.

Yeah, especially with 'ol #4 slingin the ball! :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
 
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porky88

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So far the arguement can be made that he has looked better than Greg Jennings did as a rookie.
 

tromadz

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So far the arguement can be made that he has looked better than Greg Jennings did as a rookie.

Blasphemy!

but seriously, there were as many reports on jennings last year.

its still awesome though if he lives up to the tc hype.
 
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porky88

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Yared-Yam said:
So far the arguement can be made that he has looked better than Greg Jennings did as a rookie.

Ummm errrrrr ummm errrrrrrr I think my head just exploded

It's the truth. I hear it on the Training Camp report and I've seen it in a couple of articles. I like Greg Jennings all the way but Jones' impact has been right on par with Jennings' last year according to a lot of the people who cover the Packers around here.
 
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lol, Yared-Yam has a man-crush on Jennings. He thinks Jennings is the best thing since sliced bread (kinda hard to argue with him there).

On a serious note, I found it interesting that CB Woodson wasn't as quick to compare Jones to Jennings.

He said you instantly knew there was something about Jennings last year, but he hesitated to say the same thing about Jones.

C-Wood said Jones was doing good, but we need to wait and see how he performs in the game.

Regardless, I think going up against two great corners in Harris and Woodson is really going to help Jones throughout TC.
 

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