10 burning questions that must be answered in Chicago Bears second preseason game
-Who is winning the depth battles?
-How much will the starters play?
-Which players may lose their starting jobs?
8. Is Velus Jones still returning punts, and will anyone push him to return kicks?
Velus Jones is slowly losing all the roles he has. The former third-round pick will hardly see the field on offense if things go right. So, if he wants to stick around, it will have to be special teams. The issue is that he keeps fumbling punts.
Last year, he lost the job to Dante Pettis, and this year, it feels like they want Tyer Scott to win it. That would leave Jones as just a kick-return option. Last year, when he was just a kick return option, he was inactive.
He was activated in week 11, after missing two weeks, but he went from one phase of special teams to five. He added snaps on kick and punt coverage, got a snap as a kick blocker, and even was in on punt returns, but to block for Dante Pettis.
This year, he has not played those roles on special teams. So, if Jones gets a second chance on punt returns, or if we see Jones playing multiple special teams phases, it shows that he is here to stay. If we see he loses punt returns, does not add new special teams work, and there is a new name like Trestan Ebner getting chances on kick return, he may not even make the roster when it is all said and done. This week will show us a lot.