Velus Jones Jr. Facing Uphill Battle to Be Active

It seems Velus Jones Jr. has finally found disfavor.

It took a critical penalty flag and fouled up pass in the end zone to do it.

Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower described a situation where Jones now needs to find a way through practice to become an active player on game days because he wound up on the inactive list last week. It's difficult to see why the Bears would want to change this status barring an injury.

"I think we just made the best decision for our football team at that point," Hightower said. "I think he's just got to do what he did, you know, before now when he was active.

"He's got to just work his tail off in practice. He's got to keep developing and he'll have a chance out there to compete."

Jones was engaged with Saints blockers on a punt he was supposed to cover late in the Nov. 5 game and got flagged for facemasking. It appeared Jones was being held on the play and there was no flag, and then he reached out and pulled the facemask. The 15-yard penalty gave New Orleans the ball at the Bears 36 in a one-touchdown game but the Bears escaped his mistake when New Orleams missed a 46-yard field goal.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus didn't leave a lot of room for a Jones return when he spoke about it after the Bears beat Carolina.

"If somebody sits down because of penalty or inconsistent play and somebody comes up because they are more consistent, that's where it is," Eberflus said. "We are always going to make the best decision for our roster to win the game."

Jones joined fellow 2022 draft class member Dominique Robinson on the inactive list last week. Robinson was a fifth-round pick, Jones a third-rounder. Jones also had another bumbling play in the game, when he got wide open in the end zone, seemed disoriented when he turned in the end zone and fell to the artificial turf before Tyson Bagent's pass landed right in his lap. And he dropped it.

The Bears drafted Jones 71st overall in Round 3 in 2022. He averaged 27.6 yards per 22 kick returns as a rookie, third-best average in the league. This year he had six returns and a 27.2-yard average.

He has 10 catches for 116 yards in his career for 22 targets and one TD.

Tyler Scott has returned kicks in his place.

Hightower described Jones as still trying his best to be active.

"We're always going to try to put the best guys out there for that game to win that week," he said. "It can change week-to-week. He’s just to keep going about his business the right way. I can tell you yesterday (Wednesday) he had one of the best practices that he's ever had on special teams. It's obviously on his mind."