Velus Jones must be frustrated. It’s hard not to be when you aren’t playing. The 3rd round pick had high hopes for this season. Things just haven’t gone his way. It started with multiple injury setbacks during training camp and the preseason. That stunted his progress. Then when he was finally healthy, he squandered his opportunity with two muffed punts and a dropped pass. With the Chase Claypool trade and the return of Byron Pringle from IR, the team no longer saw any reason to keep Jones active on game days.
Getting benched is never fun. Many athletes fail to handle the idea well. The Bears are hoping it lights a fire under him. Wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert has seen such things happen before. He believes Jones is capable of bouncing back from this situation. It requires hard work, dedication, and mental fortitude. It sounds like the rookie has redoubled his efforts to improve over the past couple of weeks. Part of the reason may stem from Tolbert’s advice. He offered some noteworthy wisdom on the challenge ahead.
“When you see people getting uniforms and you not getting a uniform, it makes you take it to another level,” wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert said. “At least, it should. He’s been doing that, especially the last couple weeks. Taking it to another level as far as his preparation, as far as his details, all of that. Extra work after practice. All of that.
“If you want that uniform you got to do something extra. I saw a saying one time, ‘If you doing the same amount of work as the guy in front of you, he’s staying in front of you.’ He’s doing some extra stuff so he can step it up a little bit.”
Velus Jones’ primary goal is obvious.
Nobody is disputing his athletic talent. The guy is one of the faster players on the entire team. He can be electric whenever he has the ball. His problem is those hands. They’ve been painfully unreliable this year as evidenced by his multiple blunders. The Bears aren’t going to play somebody they don’t trust can hang onto the football. So the best course of action is for him to do any drills that help improve his hands. If he can show progress in practice, then it won’t be long before he’s back in action.
Until then, the Bears seem content with the trio of Darnell Mooney, Claypool, and Pringle. Velus Jones could improve his odds by embracing other responsibilities, such as run blocking and special teams. Those are primarily why Equanimeous St. Brown and Dante Pettis continue suiting up each week despite their obvious lack of help in the passing game. Whatever it takes to get back on the field. Jones isn’t in a position to be picky. If he wants to play, he’ll find a way to make it happen.
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