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WR Velus Jones Jr. - CHI (1 Viewer)

Tennessee redshirt senior WR Velus Jones was named First Team All-SEC as an all-purpose player on Tuesday.

Jones (6'0/200) was second on the Vols in receiving this season with 52 receptions for 722 yards and six touchdowns, but received all-purpose player honors thanks in part to his work on special teams. Jones averaged 126.3 all-purpose yards per game this season, and was second in the SEC in kick-return average (28.1) and first in punt return average (16.0). He and the Vols will face Purdue in the Music City Bowl on December 30th, which is played in their home state of Nashville, Tennessee.

SOURCE: Patrick Brown on Twitter

Dec 7, 2021, 3:55 PM ET
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NFL scouts are starting to push Tennessee WR Velus Jones up the boards. 

Jones (6'0/200 had a stellar final season as he finished tenth in the SEC in receiving yards (806) and now during the predraft process, he's getting NFL scout's attention.  He showed off his skills during the Senior Bowl with an American team-high 52 receiving yards, including an impressive 32-yard contested catch, and many liked what they saw during the practice sessions. Jim Nagy notes he was the second-fastest offensive prospect at Senior Bowl and showed a tape of his route-running skills. Including one where he had juked a defender resembling a Steph Curry ankle-breaker. He's not in that top-tier of WR prospects that are expected to go in the first round or early second, but he has good size and someone a team can grab in the middle rounds and could compete for a WR2 spot.

SOURCE: Jim Nagy

Feb 20, 2022, 9:26 PM ET
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Bears selected Tennessee WR Velus Jones with the No. 71 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.  

Jones will join Darnell Mooney and Byron Pringle as the top wideouts for Chicago. Set to turn 25 in a couple of weeks, Jones (6'/204) spent six years in college, transferring from USC to Tennessee for his final two seasons. He was primarily a special teams player during his career, but he emerged as a receiver last season with 62 catches for 807 yards and 7 touchdowns. Jones turned heads with a 4.31 40 at the Combine, but that headline number overshadowed underwhelming jumps as well as disastrous agility times at his Pro Day. Jones has legit speed that is evident on tape and should be able to contribute immediately as a returner, but he has limited experience as a receiver and could be confined to a gadget role. That is not an exciting prospect for fantasy.
 

Apr 29, 2022, 9:50 PM ET
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ESPN's Courtney Cronin reports the Bears drafted WR Velus Jones "in hopes of lining him up outside, in the slot, in the backfield and using him in the return game."

The Bears drafted Jones, who played six years at Tennessee and will soon turn 25, in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. In college, Jones was mostly a return specialist, emerging as a receiver in 2021 with 62 receptions for 807 yards and seven touchdowns. Cronin said the Bears "fell in love" with Jones' 4.3 40-time at the NFL Combine and see him as a multidimensional player who could be deployed out of the backfield. Jones might be a punchline in football analytics circles this offseason, but if the Bears are determined to get the ball in his hands, fantasy managers might pay attention. 

SOURCE: ESPN.com 

May 6, 2022, 10:53 AM ET
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A 25 year old rookie who spent 6 years at P5 programs, accumulated 686 yards and 5 TD's in his first 5 seasons, and his 24 year old 'breakout' netted 822 yards and 7 TD's. How does any NFL organization justify spending the 71st pick on that?

 
MAC_32 said:
A 25 year old rookie who spent 6 years at P5 programs, accumulated 686 yards and 5 TD's in his first 5 seasons, and his 24 year old 'breakout' netted 822 yards and 7 TD's. How does any NFL organization justify spending the 71st pick on that?
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Great question @MAC_32 - your newly minted media credentials have resulted in this answer from Bears GM Ryan Poles:

Ryan Poles Had A Perfect Answer To Velus Jones’ Age Concerns

“I THINK FOR WHERE WE ARE AS A TEAM, IT ACTUALLY PROBABLY BENEFITS US JUST TO HAVE MORE MATURE, GAME-READY, PRO-READY PLAYERS THAT ARE A LITTLE BIT MORE EXPERIENCED AND MATURE. THEY’VE GONE THROUGH SOME THINGS. THEY’RE A LITTLE BIT MORE DEPENDABLE, RELIABLE, BOTH ON AND OFF THE FIELD. SO, I THINK THAT WILL BENEFIT US FOR WHERE WE ARE. IN TERMS OF BALANCING, I THINK THE DRAFT ALONE WILL GET BACK TO WHERE IT WAS AND THE AGE CURVE WILL COME BACK TO WHAT WAS NORMAL.”
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Using him in the backfield would be incredibly dumb. 2 of the 3 best weapons they have on the offense are Montgomery and Herbert. 

MAC_32 said:
A 25 year old rookie who spent 6 years at P5 programs, accumulated 686 yards and 5 TD's in his first 5 seasons, and his 24 year old 'breakout' netted 822 yards and 7 TD's. How does any NFL organization justify spending the 71st pick on that?
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I'm hoping they think he can be another Devin Hester as a returner, because I think he'll be hard pressed to beat out Byron Pringle, and the based on the team personnel, this going to be a 2 TE offense most of the time. 

 
Somebody on twitter yesterday posted one of those "who am I" posts where they listed 5 metrics and you try to guess which incoming rookie it is. One of the metrics was that the mystery player broke out at 18.5 years old. 

Somebody actually responded with Velus Jones as their guess. Like yeah he broke out 7 years ago and nobody has heard of him until  now.

 
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What stood out on Day 1 of Bears rookie minicamp

Excerpt:

Eberflus praised third-round pick Velus Jones Jr. for his work on Day 1 of rookie minicamp and is excited about offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s plan for the versatile offensive weapon.

“Velus did a great job. He was, as we expected, high energy, caught the ball very well,” Eberflus said. “He played inside, outside. He was all over the place in terms of that. I think he functioned pretty good. Excited to see that athlete on the field.

“I was talking to Luke the other day about [Jones’] special attributes,” Eberflus said later. “He’s got a big plan for him. He’s got to look at his skill set, and then we will expand that role. Let’s start out at receiver, and then let’s see what he can do moving him around and getting him the ball because he is an explosive athlete.”
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Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy praised rookie WR Velus Jones, saying "the speed just jumped at you on the tape."

"When that guy gets the ball in his hands, he looks like 4.3 on the field. Not many guys can do that," Getsy added. The Bears OC also called Jones "a physically mature dude," which makes sense since he'll be a 25-year-old rookie. Jones looks likely to have a big role in the Bears offense barring a surprise signing of an established wideout in free agency. He should be on the fantasy radar, though he's probably still a sleeper at the moment. 

SOURCE: Brad Biggs on Twitter

May 8, 2022, 1:16 PM ET
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MAC_32 said:
That's what free agency is for, Ryan. New boss, same as the old boss. My thoughts & prayers, Bears fans.
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With the recent wr contracts, an older day 2 rookie who performs well right away is probably nearly as valuable as a quarterback on their rookie deal.  If he is any good - and that's obviously a big if - he's a great investment.  I'm not optimistic about the pick but considering what he took over i don't think you can blame him for taking a guy with an elite attribute if he felt they were pro ready 

 
Old dude but that doesn’t matter if you’re picking him late in your rookie draft or claiming off waivers.

 
I don't expect much from a 25 year old WR who didn't produce until his 6th year in college but I've been scooping him up around the 6th round of FFPC rookie drafts.  They did use a high 3rd round pick on him and it's a wide open depth chart after Mooney.  Worth a dart throw.

 
Marauder said:
I don't expect much from a 25 year old WR who didn't produce until his 6th year in college but I've been scooping him up around the 6th round of FFPC rookie drafts.  They did use a high 3rd round pick on him and it's a wide open depth chart after Mooney.  Worth a dart throw.
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Yep.

He is a very fast and smooth athlete. Turned 25 yesterday actually. It is really an absurd pick by my Bears. I was not and am not happy about it. But. For FF, I do think there is value there and that every year there are outlier stories. Whether it is age, size, athleticism, draft capital, or some other metric, players *regularly* defy the odds. In my view it is less about being able to correctly identify them and more about taking as many dart throws as you can reasonably spend.

If we were just making a straight bet, we'd all bet against him. But for 4th round FF draft capital or lower, you're talking about a very weighted dart throw that is basically free. Weighted as in he checks the boxes for athleticism, size, DC, bonus because the team moved up to get him, and the open depth chart behind Mooney in a possibly ascending but traditionally terrible offense. 

He should probably be going earlier in drafts. Not expecting a lot but a *lot* is in the range of outcomes and I don't think that outcome would be as much of an outlier as a late rookie pick typically is.

 
JohnnyU said:
Old dude but that doesn’t matter if you’re picking him late in your rookie draft or claiming off waivers.
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Marauder said:
I don't expect much from a 25 year old WR who didn't produce until his 6th year in college but I've been scooping him up around the 6th round of FFPC rookie drafts.  They did use a high 3rd round pick on him and it's a wide open depth chart after Mooney.  Worth a dart throw.
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Didn't Jones play with Carson Palmer at USC before transferring to Tennessee?  👴 He has been around forever , it seems.  I suspect his role could be more on ST than offense, but I agree the opportunity appears to be there in Chicago. 

 
zamboni said:
Seems more like it was Arnold Palmer.
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I saw Arnold Palmer once while sitting in a clinic waiting room waiting for a dermatology appointment.  He walked right past me.  May he RIP.  Growing up in the 60s and 70s I was a Jack Nicklaus fan and he and Palmer were rivals, along with Gary Player.  Arnie had his army.  He had one of the ugliest swings I’ve ever seen, but he was a legend.

 
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He seemed to have the widest draft range in my rookie drafts of any player that I think off. Went in mid third of a few all the way to undrafted in 7 rounds in some and all kinds of points in between.

 
VELUS JONES WR, CHICAGO BEARS

Bears signed third-round WR Velus Jones to a four-year contract.

The experienced 25-year-old rookie figures to get plenty of targets in his first season because the Bears have all but abandoned creating an offensive arsenal for Justin Fields. Jones figures to get enough targets to be on the fantasy radar if he's healthy, but the fact that he was a surprise pick calls into question his ability to be used as more than a decoy beyond 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. There's speed to burn and tackle-breaking ability, but more downside than usual for a third-round pick. He could just be a Cordarrelle Patterson type of player. 

May 17, 2022, 5:59 PM ET
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Took him at 3.12 (#36 overall) in a 12-team league w/ goofy scoring... only because my leaguemates oftentimes make some... let's just say "interesting"... choices in trading.  I figure that if he blows up in year 1 or 2 I may actually be able to get a good return on him.  

 
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NBC Sports' Peter King believes the Bears have "big intentions" for third-round WR Velus Jones.​

Jones was a late-bloomer in college with only one real year of production, but King said the rookie has "hit the ground running," although he did caution there is a long way to go before Week 1. Chicago's receiver depth chart was one of the worst in the league even before Byron Pringle (quad) and N'Keal Harry (ankle) went down with injuries. The Bears have little choice but to use Jones, making him a late-round dart throw.
SOURCE: NFL on NBC YouTube
Aug 7, 2022, 5:56 PM ET
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Velus Jones (hamstring) is doubtful for Week 1 against the 49ers.​

Jones didn't practice at all this week and missed a lot of time during training camp with an injury. He's got a lot of ground to make up if he wants to become a contributor on offense as a rookie. Darnell Mooney, Byron Pringle, and Equanimeous St. Brown figures to be Justin Fields' three-wide set Sunday.
Sep 9, 2022, 3:13 PM ET
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He's available in my dynasty league. He worth a shot with a deep bench? I'd have to drop Craig Reynolds or snoop Conner
 
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