The Chicago Bears appear to have scored some intriguing hits with their latest undrafted class. Tight end Brendan Bates has four catches for 86 yards. Ian Wheeler is averaging almost five yards per carry and has two touchdowns. However, the most consistently active name that has surfaced over the past month is Carl Jones Jr. Chicago signed him right after the draft coming out of UCLA. Nobody read much into it since the team was already heavy at linebacker. He was probably just a camp body.
Time has proven otherwise. Across two appearances, he now has 14 tackles, which is tied for the third-most in the league this preseason. Clearly, the Bears saw something when they signed the kid. In truth, the story of how Jones ended up in Chicago is a wild one. According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, it started with him being actively sabotaged by his own coaching staff at UCLA. He’d wanted to play linebacker, but they used him as an edge rusher instead. This is likely the biggest reason he never got any attention during the draft.
It’s an interesting transition for Jones, who wanted to switch to linebacker in school but was sort of pigeonholed into being an undersized edge rusher. The Bears list him at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds.
Jones entered UCLA as a safety and was switched to linebacker as a true freshman. He was used as an outside linebacker, primarily rushing the passer as a sophomore.
“Junior year I asked to go back and Chip Kelly was like, ‘Nah, we like you here,’ ” Jones said. “The next year, I asked him again, ‘No, we like you here.’ So I just stuck it out.”…
…Catching the attention of NFL teams as a player who did not profile as an edge rusher wasn’t easy, and it took a little imagination for the Bears. Jones wasn’t invited to the scouting combine or any postseason all-star games. He ran a 4.49-second, 40-yard dash at the UCLA pro day, which caught the attention of the Bears, who gave him a $20,000 signing bonus and guaranteed $120,000, an indicator they saw him as a good shot to make the practice squad.
That is basically how Jones ended up with the team. His ability to run a sub-4.5 in the 40 at 6’2, 230 lbs convinced them he might have the athletic profile to play linebacker. When they found out he actually had wanted to play the position from the start, it only further cemented the decision. People love to downplay the importance of athletic testing. Focus on the tape. That is all that matters. This story proves those people wrong. Sometimes, those tests are crucial to helping players without a clear path to the NFL to find one.
Jones Jr. has the size and speed to play linebacker in the NFL. Maybe if his coaches in college had been smart enough to recognize he was playing out of position, he’d have gotten more notoriety. Whatever the case, it ends up being the Chicago Bears’ gain. The rookie won’t make the main roster this year, but he’s a lock for the practice squad. From there, anything is possible.
