Workout warrior they called him. Many view this with a negative connotation, but not Byron Jones. He instead relishes it, acknowledging its role in pushing him up draft boards and into the spotlight. Why though? Why would anyone that wants to be taken serious as a football player welcome the thought of being labeled the dreaded workout warrior?
As Todd Archer of ESPN puts it “Byron Jones acknowledged that what he did in Indianapolis in February added some buzz to his name and potentially led teams to re-evaluate his play. But the workout warrior talk doesn’t bother him.”
That makes plenty sense to me. It kinda goes along with the idea that even bad news is news and news is what gets you noticed. The combine is indeed the single biggest interview most of these kids will ever be involved in so why should he be ashamed of the fact that he killed it? He nailed it and the attention it drew lead scouts to go back and check the tape…tape that he knew would convince them that he was indeed a DB talent worthy of a first round selection.
So I decided to go back and “check the tape” from a week 13 game against the Washington Redskins his rookie year in Dallas and see how well he translated, the following are my findings:
Byron Jones vs Washington Wk. 13 – Scouting Report
Byron was moved around a lot during his initial NFL season, he played outside corner, slot corner and Safety. I decided to study film of a game he played at the Safety position since it appears as though that is where the coaches want to play him moving forward.
Jones consistently displayed the ability to keep his eyes on the entire play. Maintaining vision of the ball and the receivers entering or passing by his zone. He kept very good angles to be able to get over and help out on any WR running downfield.
That being said in the following play I believe a little more experience at the Safety position gets him an INT. A combination of sitting in his drop and breaking on the route too late kept him from making a big play. I’m interested to see how well he does in a similar situation this coming season.
He could also be seen pre-snap communicating with his teammates on many plays. Not just the other DBs but the LBs playing in front of him as well. His body language led me to believe he was confidently directing as opposed to confused and asking for direction. He emphatically called for and lined up Mo Claiborne on a play when Claiborne was terribly out of sync.
I think he can do a better job of read recognition in terms of run vs pass. He seems more reactive post hand off as opposed to instinctively heading downhill towards the RB.
Reacts well to screen passes. Sees the play develop and transitions from backpedal to forward sprint effortlessly. He shows very fluid hips, seems to really get out of his backpedal with little to no effort.
Solid wrap up tackler. Doesn’t light WRs and RBs up, but wraps up and drags to the ground. Would like to see more consistent aggression, but I would settle for the consistent solid tackling…dependable.
On the following play he dropped deep very quickly, looked to be a dictated by scheme (playing the deep ball as multiple WR’s were running deep routes) as opposed to a personal error. An easy completion was made and in his attempt to redirect and get to the WR he was easily misdirected by a change of direction that led to a bad angle and an even worse tackle attempt. Fortunately B. Carr was able to assist in bringing down the WR (B. Carr was in coverage).
Does a good job carrying the TE in coverage when asked to do so. Did a remarkable job of this in the following play, disrupted the play and nearly came away with a batted pass. On that note he was at his best in the NE game in which he was tasked with shadowing Gronk.
Byron Jones is much more than just a workout warrior. His play on the field is deserving of a first round pick, especially when you consider that Dallas got him at the bottom of the round. I’d say he could’ve justified being selected in the 15-20 pick range.
Keep an eye on his development the more he gets to focus in on one position. Hopefully, that position is Safety because he is a natural fit.
