Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas
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| Jones |
In a column I wrote
now appearing on our NFL page, I detailed how Jacksonville wide receivers
Jerry Porter and
Troy Williamson are getting fresh starts. Jacksonville's receiving corps could suddenly be pretty good when you add Williamson and Porter to
Reggie Williams and
Dennis Northcutt. Porter even told me that the Jags could have one of the most well-rounded receiving corps in the league.
One person I didn't include in the column was Matt Jones, a former first-round pick. It wasn't an oversight. After watching Jones for the last few seasons and observing him in a recent minicamp and hearing coaches talk about the receivers, it's pretty obvious Jones isn't a integral part of the plan.
A college quarterback at Arkansas, the Jaguars once believed the 6-foot-6-inch Jones could make the transition to wide receiver and become a big-time player. Oops. That hasn't even come close to happening and, now that Porter and Williamson are aboard, the chances of Jones having an impact just dropped again.
In his first three seasons, Jones has started five games, including none last year. He only had 24 catches, which basically puts him with the Keary Colberts of the world. Once, there were incredibly high hopes for Jones. But those appear to be long gone.
The word inside the organization is that Jones isn't remotely passionate about football and would rather be off playing basketball somewhere. He just might get that opportunity, because there's a growing chance Jones won't even be on the roster by the end of the preseason.
