Why Bears Need to Get Velus Jones Opportunities

Throughout rookie minicamp and what little the media sees of organized team activities, the Bears have made it a point to get the ball to rookie third-round pick Velus Jones with regularity.

This is necessary, even if Jones is the rare 25-year-old rookie after he spent six years in college football programs.

"You know all the guys are coming in with the same amount of NFL experience and he just wants to come in and perform and show us what he can do and I don't think his age is going to play any kind of factor in that," scout Scott Summerville said after the Bears drafted Jones.

The actual age might not be as much of a factor as the experience.

Much has been made of Jones being old enough that when he gets his second NFL contract he will be almost 30. Also, plenty has been mentioned by both Jones and the Bears about his maturity as a 25-year-old.

"It is a benefit because I'm coming in with maturity," Jones said. "I'm all about my business. I was young, but now that I'm older, I realize what's at stake, and this is the best job in the world."

There can be no doubt Jones is older and when he says he is mature there is no reason to doubt this unless proven otherwise.

Jones was the fifth oldest player drafted and oldest receiver, but is far less experienced at actually making plays in an offense during games than some of the receivers the Bears could have taken in Round 2 or even Round 3.

The Bears could have selected Tyquan Thornton, George Pickens, Alec Pierce and Skyy Moore with their second pick of Round 2 at receiver if they didn't feel so strongly about safety Jaquan Brisker. Pickens (90) and Pierce (106) caught fewer passes than Jones in college and had even less experience. Pickens had maturity issues according to scouts. Moore and Thornton had the experience but not the strength/explosiveness of the 204-pound Jones. 

Simply, what Jones needs is reps.

Jones was a curiosity piece for four seasons at Southern Cal from 2016-2019 before he became a serious wide receiver. They used him at times in a running back position like Cordarrelle Patterson. They considered him their return threat but he only caught 36 passes in four years for 347 yards, a feeble 9.6-yard average for someone who had WR listed next to their name on the roster.

A wide receiver used the way Jones was by the Trojans gets little opportunity to develop necessary route-running skills.

So when Jones tagged along with assistant coach Tee Martin and went to Tennessee in the portal after his fourth USC year, he really was finally going to get the chance to see what being a receiver was all about.

"I would say it was all about playing time, the opportunity I got," Jones said. "You can't really experience anything if you're not out there as much. So when I got that opportunity, now I can experiment (with) other things I need to work on. 

"Because it's kind of hard to compare, especially on the offensive side USC and Tennessee because I got the opportunity at Tennessee, you know I ran away with it."

Even then, he caught just 22 passes his first year but did start to haul them in with more regularity downfield.

It wasn't until his final seasons when he caught more passes (62) than his first five years combined that Jones started to get some of the real experience in a passing attack that he needed. The fact it came against high-level competition in the SEC gives rise to the hope he has some experience for a base.

Fortuately for the Bears, there was an indication to Summerville that Jones is a quick learner.

"With him, the more I watched him the more I saw him improve," Summerville said.

The concern is real. The Bears drafted Kevin White in 2015 seventh overall and he didn't develop. Many blame the injuries White had but he came from a West Virgina program where he never learned about more sophisticated route trees and simply couldn't play receiver the way it's played in the NFL. He had plenty of opportunities to prove it after he got over injuries but never did pick it up. He's still in the league and has 26 career receptions, 25 of them from 2015-18 with the Bears.

With Jones, the Bears are fortunate to have receivers coach and passing game coordinator Tyke Tolbert with a reputation for being able to bring along young receivers quickly. In this case he'd need to bring along an older receiver with expedience.

"I think the biggest thing is when they get here, when guys get here whether they're a vet or whether they're not, when you get on the practice field and you see what they do best it's about tapping into that for each player, not just Velus but each guy," offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said. "And so if Velus shows that he can handle more then he's going to get more."

Jones needs to get more, in OTAs, in training camp and with him preseason games will even be important.

He's a 25-year-old NFL rookie, physically impressive with 4.31-second speed at 204 pounds, buta player with even less experience than many of the other younger players the Bears could have selected at the position.

They'll need to keep the passes coming his way.