During training camp, new Wide Receivers coach, Todd Monken, challenged all of the receivers on the roster to step up their game. He made it clear that nobody was impressive enough to warrant a roster spot lock, and that there would be an open competition for the starting positions. He openly challenged Matt Jones during practices, spending an enormous amount of time coaching the former quarterback one-on-one to try to impress upon him the fact that he was not putting enough effort into certain drills. On one blocking drill in particular, Monken was so disgusted by the lack of effort that he saw from Matt Jones that he made him do it again in its entirety.
As training camp progressed, Monken continued to ride Matt Jones, dressing him down in front of his teammates and fans alike when he ran the wrong route, and the end result was an interception. On a daily basis, Matt Jones and Todd Monken would almost appear to be attached at the hip, with the fiery coach constantly in his ear hole.
Nothing changed.
So, when a lack of effort, and unwillingness or an inability to make the plays on the field resulted in a dropped catch in the back of the end zone against Tennessee, and another drop occurred when he was going over the middle against Atlanta, things went from bad to worse.
In both cases, the passes he had dropped were catchable balls.
The dropped touchdown in particular was the type of catch that he was specifically brought in to make, and one that most good wide receivers will haul in routinely.
On the crossing route against Atlanta, the fear of contact probably resulted in him dropping the pass. He was hit almost immediately after the catch, although it was neither a brutal or powerful hit. It was a clean tackle. Unfortunately, the ball was out before the hit was applied, and the label as a softy was resurrected.
When Matt was finally deactivated for the game in Denver, it was the end of a monumental effort by the coaching staff to try to light a fire under the laid back receiver to try to clarify for him that he is a professional, and that there are certain expectations attached to that label.
When his head coach, Jack Del Rio, was asked about the perception that Matt does not give enough effort, his coach was candid enough to admit that Matt’s body language, and other mannerisms in games had become a concern, and that there was clearly a lack of effort that would require the two of them to meet and discuss options. It was obvious that whatever transpired between the head coach and the player did not result in any improvement during the week leading up to the Denver game, as Jones was limited by a phantom heel injury that suddenly appeared after his coach had called him out, mildly so, in the local press.
The Jaguars were left with no alternative but to use the deactivation as a way of ratcheting up the pressure on Jones to increase his level of intensity.
