Signed by Cowboys Cowboys Sign P Chris Jones To Four-Year Extension

[KingintheNorth]

Yes he does.

I would have gave him a million cool points if he would have trucked that midget Sproles.

 

[aikemirv]

$1.5M for a kicker.

Almost $100,000 per game.

I always told my boys that "punter" was a great career choice!

 

[Alexander]

Yes he does.

That play changed the entire course of momentum in that game.

 

[Reality]

The real reason he got extended.

I was just about to post and say the same thing

 

[NEODOG]

$1.5M for a kicker.

Almost $100,000 per game.

Looks down at leg......

Short stub.....not that flexible.... Drat!

 

[TheCoolFan]

Top-5 coverage punter/tackler in the league. He's not a liability in punt coverage as the last line of defense

 

[Paniolo22]

I remember when some fans here wanted to cut him because he wasn't Mat McBriar immediately when he stepped into the role. Is that nonsense still around?

That's because he was NOT good during his first couple of years here. He has been much better as of late. Well deserved extension.

 

[mattjames2010]

 

[Plankton]

That's because he was NOT good during his first couple of years here. He has been much better as of late. Well deserved extension.

Yeah, that's not true. He's been good and remarkably consistent for his whole tenure in Dallas. Saying that he wasn't good then, but he's better now flies in the face of his actual performance. Check his stats - he's been the same guy year to year.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/14723/chris-jones

 

[gimmesix]

That's because he was NOT good during his first couple of years here. He has been much better as of late. Well deserved extension.

He only played in two games and punted 10 times his first year. His average per punt was 42.6, but his net was 40.5. Guess what his net was last year? 40.5.

His second year, Jones punted 12 times in four games for a 45.2 average and net of 40.0. Guess what his average was last year? 45.9.

The perception was that he wasn't good because fans loved Mat McBriar's big leg that sometimes outkicked the coverage. Jones was good from the start, and Dallas rightly let McBriar walk after he averaged 43.8 yards per punt Jones' first year with a 36.1-yard net. (Some fans thought it was a mistake to let McBriar go with his average of 46.5 yards per punt with Philadelphia supposedly proving it — along with Jones getting injured, but McBriar still only averaged a 36.5 net his first year in a new uniform.) The difference between the two that some fans failed to notice was Jones' sacrificing distance for directional kicking that McBriar couldn't do.

Now, I loved me some Mat McBriar, but it was important to recognize the difference between what the two punters were trying to do, and many didn't seem able to do that.

 

[The Quest for Six]

Good extension, people complain at times about his kicking but he's not going to out kick his coverage and most of his punts are directional and downed with no run back.....net average is the key!

 

[Paniolo22]

He only played in two games and punted 10 times his first year. His average per punt was 42.6, but his net was 40.5. Guess what his net was last year? 40.5.

His second year, Jones punted 12 times in four games for a 45.2 average and net of 40.0. Guess what his average was last year? 45.9.

The perception was that he wasn't good because fans loved Mat McBriar's big leg that sometimes outkicked the coverage. Jones was good from the start, and Dallas rightly let McBriar walk after he averaged 43.8 yards per punt Jones' first year with a 36.1-yard net. (Some fans thought it was a mistake to let McBriar go with his average of 46.5 yards per punt with Philadelphia supposedly proving it — along with Jones getting injured, but McBriar still only averaged a 36.5 net his first year in a new uniform.) The difference between the two that some fans failed to notice was Jones' sacrificing distance for directional kicking that McBriar couldn't do.

Now, I loved me some Mat McBriar, but it was important to recognize the difference between what the two punters were trying to do, and many didn't seem able to do that.

I'm only going by my eyes. In his first couple of years, he was wildly inconsistent and P was always a position that could be upgraded. In the last 2 years, he has been extremely consistent and now it's a position we don't have to worry about. To say he was great from the beginning because of his stats are foolish

 

[RS12]

I endorse this. There is value to a punter who can kick, run, and tackle.

 

[cowboy_ron]

Twitter tweet: Dallas "locks up" punter Chris Jones..................I guess Goodell will launch a full investigation now after reading that.

 

[Corso]

Twitter tweet: Dallas "locks up" punter Chris Jones..................I guess Goodell will launch a full investigation now after reading that.

Chris Jones got what? Suspend Dak for 4 games.

 

[dallasdave]

Chris Jones got what? Suspend Dak for 4 games.

 

[gimmesix]

I'm only going by my eyes. In his first couple of years, he was wildly inconsistent and P was always a position that could be upgraded. In the last 2 years, he has been extremely consistent and now it's a position we don't have to worry about. To say he was great from the beginning because of his stats are foolish

The stats back up what he was doing on the field. If your eyes told you differently, the stats don't support it.

Jones showed enough his first year in few attempts that Dallas was comfortable letting McBriar, who was going downhill, move on. Some fans were expecting more from the position because they got used to McBriar's booming punts.They weren't satisfied with a guy who had a better net average because they were blinded by the overall average not being higher.

But since I don't think you'll believe that, let's look at his games.

He punted in two in 2011, his first year, averaging 43.0 in his first game and 42.3 in his second.

His second year was a little more erratic: 54.0, 45.8, 43.3 and 32.0. That proves you right, right? Well, last year he had a high of 55.3, a low of 37.5 and everything in between. Like I said, fans had their expectations higher than reality based on McBriar's magic leg before it went south. We got spoiled by 47-, 48- and 49-yard averages.

 

[Paniolo22]

The stats back up what he was doing on the field. If your eyes told you differently, the stats don't support it.

Jones showed enough his first year in few attempts that Dallas was comfortable letting McBriar, who was going downhill, move on. Some fans were expecting more from the position because they got used to McBriar's booming punts.They weren't satisfied with a guy who had a better net average because they were blinded by the overall average not being higher.

But since I don't think you'll believe that, let's look at his games.

He punted in two in 2011, his first year, averaging 43.0 in his first game and 42.3 in his second.

His second year was a little more erratic: 54.0, 45.8, 43.3 and 32.0. That proves you right, right? Well, last year he had a high of 55.3, a low of 37.5 and everything in between. Like I said, fans had their expectations higher than reality based on McBriar's magic leg before it went south. We got spoiled by 47-, 48- and 49-yard averages.

All being said, you may be right about McBriar expectations and all. As far as last year was concerned, it seemed his short average games seemed to be a product of field position, and he was trying to short kick inside the 20. I also recall him able to flip the field on occasion when needed. This did not seem the case early in his career. Maybe the inconsistency bothered me, but I do recall the Cowboys radio shows all saying that it was a position to be upgraded in 2013, 2014. No need to go further with this as I don't have facts to back up my opinions, I just know how i strongly felt we needed another option at P.

 

[Bullflop]

I'm glad to see this happen. I think Chris Jones has improved steadily to become one of the most reliable punters this team has had. He may not be as spectacular as McBriar was at times but he's every bit as solid in coverage as he is at punting. That's worth something.

 

[gimmesix]

All being said, you may be right about McBriar expectations and all. As far as last year was concerned, it seemed his short average games seemed to be a product of field position, and he was trying to short kick inside the 20. I also recall him able to flip the field on occasion when needed. This did not seem the case early in his career. Maybe the inconsistency bothered me, but I do recall the Cowboys radio shows all saying that it was a position to be upgraded in 2013, 2014. No need to go further with this as I don't have facts to back up my opinions, I just know how i strongly felt we needed another option at P.

The funny thing is of his 10 punts his first year, 4 were inside the 20 and 3 went out of bounds, as he was already showing his ability to directional kick. Then, of his 12 punts the next year, 6 were inside the 20 and 2 were kicked out of bounds. I'm sure the small sample size for those two years made fans wary even though he really was basically the same punter he is today. It didn't help that after we parted ways with McBriar in 2012, Jones suffered a knee injury in late September and we had to put up with Brian Moorman. Then, when Moorman suffered an injury in a practice, Jones played in October against Baltimore with a partially torn ACL before being placed on injured reserve. So the last memory fans had of Jones after his first "year" as the starting punter was that 32-yard average that some ignored or didn't know was the result of him playing injured.

To be honest, I don't know if a lot of fans really took to Jones until his big-time tackle or that fake punt. Up until then, he seemed to be targeted as a player the team should replace.