I checked this morning on whether former Packers wide receiver James Jones had found a new team after being cut by that offensive powerhouse the Oakland Raiders after just one season.
I found not only has he not found a new team yet, but, apparently, the NFL decided that he won't find a new team, because he has been totally removed from the players stats page on NFL.com as an active player, instead of being designated as a free agent. The NFL powers that be must know something, so that doesn't sound good for Jones finding a job.
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| James Jones One Handed Catch |
Jones had a checkered career with the Packers after being drafted out of San Jose State in the third round (#78) of the draft as the 14th wide receiver taken out of a total of 34 drafted. He was drafted behind Calvin Johnson (#1-2-Lions), Ted Ginn, Jr. (#1-9-Dolphins), Dwayne Bowe (#1-23-Chiefs), Robert Meachem (#1-27-Saints), Craig "Buster" Davis (#1-30-Chargers), Anthony Gonzales (#1-32-Colts), Sidney Rice (#2-44-Vikings), Dwayne Jarrett (#2-45-Panthers), Steve Smith (#2-51-Giants), Jacoby Jones (#3-73-Texans), Yamon Figurs (#3-74-Ravens), Laurent Robinson (#75-Falcons) and Jason Hill (#3-76-49ers).
Of those guys only Calvin Johnson (643-10,405-74TD) and Dwayne Bowe (532-7,155-44TD) have had better careers than Jones. When Jones left the Packers he ranked 9th in career catches (310), 10th in touchdowns (37) and 11th in career receiving yards (4,305). Since then Jordy Nelson has passed him in all three categories.
Jacoby Jones has been a competent receiver (203-2,733-14TD), but his two claims to fame were scoring two TDs in the 2012 Super Bowl (one on a Super Bowl record 108-yard kickoff return) and thusly being the featured player on the cover of the Super Bowl edition of Sports Illustrated and finishing third on Dancing With The Stars.
Sidney Rice (243-3,592-30TD) also was once a promising wide receiver, who had one great season (83-1,312-8TD) thanks to Brett Favre, but has since crapped out due to injuries and other factors and has been out of the league since 2013.
None of the 20 wide receivers drafted after him had anything close to a productive career.
It took five seasons before Jones became a full time starter in 2012. Over his first five seasons played in all 16 games (starting 15 out of 64 games) in four of those seasons while missing six games his second season with a knee injury.
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| James Jones Droppng TD Pass in Super Bowl |
Jones' problem over his first five seasons was dropped balls. From the years 2009 to 2011 he had the second worse drop rate (14.39% on 20 of 139 catchable balls) in the NFL, including dropping an 75-yard TD pass with 12:51 remaining in the third quarter of the Super Bowl.
During the off-season he became a free agent, but ended up re-signing with the Packers. He received lukewarm interest from the Vikings and Giants, but that interest faded when the Vikings signed Michael Jenkins and the Giants Plaxico Burress. Either team would have been better off signing Jones.
So a week after Aaron Rodgers made it know he wanted him back Jones re-signed with the Packers. However for the first time he didn't start a game finishing with 38 catches for 635 yards and 7 TDs while improving his yards per catch to a career high 16.7 in 2011.
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| James Jones with the Oakland Raiders |
However, in 2012 he had a career season (64-784) and led the NFL in receiving TDs with 14. He also limited his drops to a precious few and was known for making impossible catches look easy. He followed that season up with another career season, despite playing games 7 through 9 with a shin injury finishing with a career high 817 yards, but his catches dropped to 59 and his TDs to three as Randall Cobb moved past him on the depth chart. We later found out his total were even more remarkable when he disclosed he had played the remainder of the season in severe pain after breaking his ribs against the Steelers on Dec. 22.
With Cobb firmly entrenched as the No. 2 wide receiver Jones entered free agency for the second time and this time signed a three-year, $10 million dollar contract with the Raiders last year.
Despite starting only 10 games (playing in all 16) he was the team's leading receiver with 73 catches for 666 yards (2nd behind Andre Holmes' 693 yards) and six TDs while his yards per catch dropped to a career low of 9.1 (his career average was around 13 yards per catch). He was cut after just one season and has not had any interest as of yet.
According to reports he mentioned the Chiefs, Giants, Jaguars and Seahawks as being a "good fit" for him. I used to cringe when a pass was thrown to him, but became a fan of his, so I hope he catches on. It's sad to think that once he became a bonifide No. 2 receiver it took only one season for him to fall off the face of the Earth. It's beginning to look like his career might be over.
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