Is this Chicago Bears draft pick officially a bust?
It is so hard to say that an NFL player is a bust during their rookie season. The trials and tribulations set up for comeback stories every week and season, so with an almost guaranteed year two, the player will at least get a chance to redeem himself. However, the Chicago Bears’ third-round pick Velus Jones is flirting with the term already.
When Jones was drafted, his prospect profile was met with a great question. He struggled to find himself in college until he was physically more mature than his opponents. When things evened out in the NFL, there were huge questions about his transition.
Jones has not transitioned at all. He has more rushing yards than receiving yards right now, but so far he has under 100 of both. They only threw him the football when they designed plays for him. He has not gotten open on his own once yet this season.
Beyond that, he was demoted from punt returns because of fumbling. He added a fumble on offense as well. Kick returns is all that he has, and essentially was all that they drafted him for, too. At one point, the team made him inactive this season.
While Jones has every chance to improve, the fact that he is much older than most rookies hurts that chance. Beyond that, there just are not many cases of older prospects coming into the NFL and succeeding.
Coming into the NFL, he had a prospect profile similar to names such as Jordan Shipley, Ernest Wilford, Kevin Norwood, Nick Toon, Nick Curtis, Clyde Gates, DeAndre Smelter, and Paul Williams.
After one season, the names that he compares to are going to be Dwayne Eskridge, John Hightower, Miles Boykin, Andy Isabella, KeeSean Johnson, and Marcell Ateman. There just is no history of a player being as unproductive as him, at his age, joining the NFL, being awful for his rookie season, then making something of himself.
Fans compared him to Terry McLaurin, but he immediately was an impact player because he came into the NFL at an older age. He went over 900 yards as a rookie. Velus Jones will be lucky to top 100 yards in the next three weeks.
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You do not have to call him a bust, but the Chicago Bears cannot view him as a developing third-round pick. They have to view him as a miss, and if he becomes something that is icing on the cake. They cannot pass on a signing, or a draft pick because of Velus Jones. They cannot assume he has a spot on the depth chart. If he proves it, great, but if not, they have to be prepared to move on by next season.