4 notes to watch on Chicago Bears wide receivers in preseason

3. Will Velus Jones have any role on the Chicago Bears offense?

Velus Jones is another player with plenty on the line as he enters the preseason. First, can he find any sort of role on offense? Jones posted 107 receiving yards and 103 rushing yards as a rookie. The Bears added D.J. Moore and Tyler Scott, and they expect a lot more from Chase Claypool this year. When you consider none of those three were in the plans when the Bears drafted Jones, it is clear their thoughts on him are changing.

So, now he is almost solely relying on special teams. That can work because he is a strong kick-return asset. Still, as we noted, he lost the punt return job to Pettis last season, and now it looks like the Chicago Bears would like to see Tyler Scott win that job.

Still, they are letting Jones compete to win it. It would be much easier to make the case for Jones having value if he did both kick and punt returns. If he loses the punt return job, he had better make magic with kickoffs.

The new kickoff rules will make it harder to return kicks, and they will come less often. So, Jones has to be electric, or the team will start to look around and wonder what he is doing on the roster.