News: CBS: Cowboys rookie CB Byron Jones has impressed during practice

[CCBoy]

Cowboys rookie CB Byron Jones has impressed during practice
by Ruben Palacios | Staff Writer
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/teams/page/DAL/dallas-cowboys





Cowboys first-round pick Byron Jones is already on Jerry Jones' good side, per the Dallas Morning News.

Jones is excited about the rookie and says he's seen nothing but positive performances from him during practices.

“I don’t think we could have asked for more, sitting here today, than what he’s shown,” Jerry Jones said, per the Dallas Morning News. “He certainly has shown the athletic ability, which was a given, but he’s shown the instincts, shown the ability to have position flex of corner as well as safety. With those tall guys, a lot of times you have a little limitation in how you basically turn, and some of that.

“One of the first things that we talked about once he had been out here a few days was just his hip flex and his ability to do what you’ve got to do at corner. We know it’s there for safety, and so there is no doubt he’ll get some work at both places.

“You couldn’t ask for a pick to pan out better than he’s panned out, much less being a first-round pick. He is everything as advertised.”

Jones was the 27th overall pick out of the University of Connecticut.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Heard lots of good reports on Jones. Excited to see what he can do in TC

 

[AmericasTeam81]

Hopefully Jones and Gregory will be cornerstones of our defense for the next 10 plus years

 

[gambit187]

I'm honestly very excited about the secondary prospects. I really hope Mo plays up to his potential....

 

[visionary]

I'm honestly very excited about the secondary prospects. I really hope Mo plays up to his potential....

That is exactly what I'm afraid of

 

[JBS]

This kid BJ is getting a ton of love...sure, it's underwear Olympics but that's all he's been asked to do so far...we really need him to pan out

 

[Galian Beast]

This kid BJ is getting a ton of love...sure, it's underwear Olympics but that's all he's been asked to do so far...we really need him to pan out

Pads don't matter nearly as much for secondary players and wide receivers. The further away from the ball you are the less it matters.

It matters the most for linemen, linebackers, and running backs.

 

[Teague31]

The bonus of Jones is allows is to move on from Carr and Clai sooner

 

[Brooksey]

The bonus of Jones is allows is to move on from Carr and Clai sooner

Not if we want him at FS, which would be a huge bonus. Carr will be fine this year, we need Claiborne to break out against all odds.

 

[TheCount]

Pads don't matter nearly as much for secondary players and wide receivers. The further away from the ball you are the less it matters.

It matters the most for linemen, linebackers, and running backs.

I think he's primarily talking about once things get physical.

 

[guag]

The bonus of Jones is allows is to move on from Carr and Clai sooner

I'd say it allows us to push JJ Wilcox for the FS position. I think Wilcox is a good athlete, but I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to give him to fully "learn" the FS position. I don't know if Wilcox has already hit his ceiling, or if he's still getting used to the position... but his play leaves me wanting a little more there.

Whatever the case is, I think the best situation we could have in training camp is Mo battling for a starting CB job and BJ battling for the starting FS job.

Been hearing good things about Corey White too, and I think he might be more of a safety than a CB as well. Just imagine if Mo can somehow resemble even a 2nd or 3rd round pick... then I'd really like our defensive back depth. A lot more than I previously thought I would.

Scandrick, Carr, Claiborne, Patmon, B. Jones, C. White have the ability to play CB...

Church, Wilcox, Jones, White, Heath, McCray (don't really consider him as an actual safety though lol) can play safety.

So we're basically 6 deep at both position groups with 10 guys total (I'm only counting the guys I project to make the team). Obviously I'm not saying they could all start (or maybe even be 2nd string at this point for 1 or 2), but I think they could all at least contribute to some extent. I think that's pretty awesome.

 

[tyke1doe]

Man, I'm excited about the depth we're creating on this team. I genuinely expect us to at the very least make the NFC Championship.

 

[starfrombirth]

Not if we want him at FS, which would be a huge bonus. Carr will be fine this year, we need Claiborne to break out against all odds.

I don't understand why so many want him at Safety more than corner. You realize that we only have 2 decent corners right???? Scandrick is the best corner we have but he is far from a great corner. And Carr..... well, he is average at best. Church and Wilcox can at least hold there own but corner play is going to kill us if we don't get it covered. We need BJ at corner far more than safety.

 

[Hardline]

Man, I'm excited about the depth we're creating on this team. I genuinely expect us to at the very least make the NFC Championship.

I expect us to win the Super Bowl.

 

[Bullflop]

So far, so good. The real test begins when the pads come on. Here's hoping the accolades continue.

 

[CyberB0b]

Standard generic puff piece. When was the last time you heard of someone being terrible at OTAs? They're glorified walk throughs.

 

[xwalker]

Standard generic puff piece. When was the last time you heard of someone being terrible at OTAs? They're glorified walk throughs.

Claiborne had immediate issues when he was a rookie. Minor injuries and problems understanding the defense.

 

[xwalker]

I'd say it allows us to push JJ Wilcox for the FS position. I think Wilcox is a good athlete, but I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to give him to fully "learn" the FS position. I don't know if Wilcox has already hit his ceiling, or if he's still getting used to the position... but his play leaves me wanting a little more there.

Whatever the case is, I think the best situation we could have in training camp is Mo battling for a starting CB job and BJ battling for the starting FS job.

Been hearing good things about Corey White too, and I think he might be more of a safety than a CB as well. Just imagine if Mo can somehow resemble even a 2nd or 3rd round pick... then I'd really like our defensive back depth. A lot more than I previously thought I would.

Scandrick, Carr, Claiborne, Patmon, B. Jones, C. White have the ability to play CB...

Church, Wilcox, Jones, White, Heath, McCray (don't really consider him as an actual safety though lol) can play safety.

So we're basically 6 deep at both position groups with 10 guys total (I'm only counting the guys I project to make the team). Obviously I'm not saying they could all start (or maybe even be 2nd string at this point for 1 or 2), but I think they could all at least contribute to some extent. I think that's pretty awesome.

The media likes to talk about Claiborne, but I think a big key to whether or not the Cowboys are deep in the secondary will revolve around Corey White. He showed some really good ability with the Saints but lacked consistency. If he can become consistent, I think it really improves the depth at DB. Marinelli is much more about teaching fundamentals and having a more simple scheme then Rob Ryan, so I think that will be good for a player like White.

Wilcox made some mistakes last year no doubt, but when I went back and really studied him on the All-22, about half of what I originally thought were mistakes by him were actually mistakes by the players around him. Marinelli requires the FS to play the scheme and assume that the surrounding players will do what they are expected to do within the scheme. When LBs or CBs don't play the scheme correctly, it makes the FS appear to have been out of position. Bruce Carter was one of the culprits. Cam Lawrence and Keith Smith played a few snaps at LB and they screwed Wilcox over on most of those snaps. RoMc was not perfect in this area either. The CB Moore had a tendency to freelance at times. Claiborne when he was starting early in the season made a few really dumb decisions.

I lot of playing within the scheme is fairly simple stuff. If the FS expects the LB to funnel the runner inside but the LB lets him get outside, then the FS is out of position. Those types of issues are often not really visible on the broadcast footage.

 

[CyberB0b]

Claiborne had immediate issues when he was a rookie. Minor injuries and problems understanding the defense.

Did he even participate in OTAs as a rookie? I remember him being hurt.

 

[xwalker]

Did he even participate in OTAs as a rookie? I remember him being hurt.

He was limited to walk thru reps due to having a cast on his wrist, but was reported from the git-go to struggle with the concepts of an NFL defense. I remember someone (maybe Broaddus or Mickey) kept repeating a phrase something like "I hear he is struggling in the classroom".

The injury issue itself was another problem. There were more of those "I'm hearing..." reports that coaches thought he could practice, but that he apparently had a low tolerance for pain and/or was just too mentally weak to fight through it.