We need to move Byron Jones back to corner

[KJJ]

I agree with all of that. But it does nothing to suggest Byron Jones is an average player. He's not. He's one of the best defensive players under 25 YO in the leauge.

He's an excellent athlete but an average football player. Once you get past Sean Lee and the potential David Irving has there's nothing on defense. If you want to convince yourself that Jones is that good go ahead but he looks like a JAG in my opinion. It's still early in his career and I haven't given up on him but if he doesn't show more next season than he's shown his first two seasons then he's going to end up no better than the other safeties we've had. He doesn't make enough plays because he looks lost out there at times and rarely is where he supposed to be.

He had both hands on what should have been an INT earlier in the season and dropped it. I have high standards and we need better than him if we're going to build a solid defense that can contend with the elite QBs in the league in the playoffs. All he did his rookie season was get toasted at corner so we had to move him to safety and so far that hasn't worked.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

If you think Byron Jones isn't a good safety you either aren't paying attention or you don't know what a good safety looks like. He's not perfect, but he's also a second-year player who now has exactly one year of NFL safety experience under his belt.

Landon Collins was garbage in 2015. He sure did blossom in 2016 with better players around him (Janoris Jenkins, Eli Apple) and more experience.

 

[Don Corleone]

I don't think most people understand how zone coverage works. There's a reason the staff hasn't questioned Jones' position once.

They won't PUBLICLY question him. That isn't the MO of this coaching staff. Jones probably got his behind closed doors. Zone coverage or not, there still has to be accountability on who's covering who.

Like the previous poster stated, Jones was covering grass. His technique was lazy and he got caught peaking at Rodgers.

 

[PlayMakerz88]

It's the guys second year in the league. And first year at safety.. let him grow as a player. You can't have all pro at every position! All players give up plays, his just happen to cost us the game..

He's is not yet a bust, he a kid learning how to play safety in the NFL... and has done a good job so far.

Don't let the two plays Heath made fool you..

 

[CowboyStar88]

That's what happens to fans when their teams lose. It stings. Which is why we're doing this--to cope.

I don't cope, I talk football.

 

[Don Corleone]

It's the guys second year in the league. And first year at safety.. let him grow as a player. You can't have all pro at every position! All players give up plays, his just happen to cost us the game..

He's is not yet a bust, he a kid learning how to play safety in the NFL... and has done a good job so far.

Don't let the two plays Heath made fool you..

He can grow all he wants without costing divisional round games and having vets like Witten question whether or not they want to give this another go.

Let him learn to drive in the Pinto and leave the Ferrari in the hands of someone more capable.

 

[TheHerd]

Please quit unless you have studied the All-22. You can't evaluate Safeties without it.

Even then you're not 100% certain what his responsibilities are. At some point you have to trust the untrustable - the coaches.

 

[CowboyStar88]

If you look at that last play again Jones was actually in pretty good position if Rodgers is in the pocket. Because he was able to get to the sideline, it changed the angle of the pass so they could complete it.

Dallas had a 3 man rush with a spy like they did last game, and a lot of this game. Only GB was smart, they had their C drift to the sideline and as Rodgers left the pocket their C was their to block our LB in spy coverage so Rodgers was able to get to the sideline. Just another example of our coaches getting beat. No reason not to rush 5 there and make it throw it quickly.

Situational awareness was non-existent. You know who you're playing, you know this guy loves getting out of the pocket and making things happen. Last play he should've been ready and he wasn't. Pretty simple, and I expect more from a first round draft choice. Especially one that has this huge following of fans. If anyone is expecting this guy to be Woodson, or Eric Berry or any other great safety you're only going to be let down.

 

[GhostOfPelluer]

I'd settle for Brock Marion.

 

[PlayMakerz88]

He can grow all he wants without costing divisional round games and having vets like Witten question whether or not they want to give this another go.

Let him learn to drive in the Pinto and leave the Ferrari in the hands of someone more capable.

Who is more capable?

Rodgers ran around for 6 seconds before the catch was made... Ed Reed would have had trouble covering for 6 seconds... Byron was in good position to make a play, but it just so happen Rodgers threw an amazing pass and Cook made an amazing catch.

It's the NFL, everyone gets paid to make plays!

You can't be serious.

 

[Doomsday]

Situational awareness was non-existent. You know who you're playing, you know this guy loves getting out of the pocket and making things happen. Last play he should've been ready and he wasn't. Pretty simple, and I expect more from a first round draft choice. Especially one that has this huge following of fans. If anyone is expecting this guy to be Woodson, or Eric Berry or any other great safety you're only going to be let down.

He is a converted corner, playing his first year at FS.

 

[KJJ]

Jones was one of those workout warriors that enamored everyone at the combine especially with his world record broad jump. That's pretty much all they talked about. He's one of those great athletes that usually ends up being an average football player. The book on Jones as a football player was he would be better against NFL TE's than WR's. which is kind of strange when you consider he ran a 4.36 40 at the combine and is the fastest player in our secondary. In training camp Witten took him to school. I posted the link earlier, here it is again. Witten got by him so quick and gained so much separation it looked like Jones was trying to cover Usain Bolt. Don't know how someone as slow as Witten could beat a DB who suppose to have 4.36 40 speed that bad.

http://cowboyszone.com/threads/jason-witten-takes-byron-jones-to-school.353444/

 

[CowboyStar88]

He is a converted corner, playing his first year at FS.

That was drafted to play safety.... This isn't a hard "concept". regardless if he is playing safety or corner, you expect him to make impact plays and he hasn't. He is a finesse player not a playmaker.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Jones was one of those workout warriors that enamored everyone at the combine especially with his world record broad jump. That's pretty much all they talked about. He's one of those great athletes that usually ends up being an average football player. The book on Jones as a football player was he would be better against NFL TE's than WR's. which is kind of strange when you consider he ran a 4.36 40 at the combine and is the fastest player in our secondary. In training camp Witten took him to school. I posted the link earlier, here it is again. Witten got by him so quick and gained so much separation it looked like Jones was trying to cover Usain Bolt.

http://cowboyszone.com/threads/jason-witten-takes-byron-jones-to-school.353444/

Are you sure? I thought it was Heath

 

[KJJ]

Are you sure? I thought it was Heath

Heath ran a 4.40 at his pro day. His range was from 4.38 (lowest time) to 4.48.

 

[ConceptCoop]

He's an excellent athlete but an average football player. Once you get past Sean Lee and the potential David Irving has there's nothing on defense. If you want to convince yourself that Jones is that good go ahead but he looks like a JAG in my opinion. It's still early in his career and I haven't given up on him but if he doesn't show more next season than he's shown his first two seasons then he's going to end up no better than the other safeties we've had. He doesn't make enough plays because he looks lost out there at times and rarely is where he supposed to be.

He had both hands on what should have been an INT earlier in the season and dropped it. I have high standards and we need better than him if we're going to build a solid defense that can contend with the elite QBs in the league in the playoffs. All he did his rookie season was get toasted at corner so we had to move him to safety and so far that hasn't worked.

He's a very good football player. He's one of the best man-to-man defenders in the league. He's not a great ball-hawk, but that's not his role. He does not play FS on obvious passing downs.

It seems like a lot of the people bashing Byron don't actually understand his role. We're not asking him to be Ed Reed and aren't playing him in an Ed Reed role.

 

[ConceptCoop]

That was drafted to play safety.... This isn't a hard "concept". regardless if he is playing safety or corner, you expect him to make impact plays and he hasn't. He is a finesse player not a playmaker.

This just isn't true. He made huge plays all year, they just weren't picks. He has a ton of pass breakups this year, many in the Endzone, including a bunch of 2 pt conversions.

Nice pun. Do you do standup?

 

[CowboyGil]

This whole thread is just one collective knee jerk.

 

[ConceptCoop]

Like the previous poster stated, Jones was covering grass. His technique was lazy and he got caught peaking at Rodgers.

In zone coverage, you play the zone. If players move out of your zone, they're no longer your responsibility. You can do your job and still be "covering grass". And as a safety in deep 2, part of your job is to watch the QB. Maybe do some reading on it.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Another frustrating aspect of the game is that I think it was Durant was the delayed rusher on the final play . And even with a running start he ran like a magnet to the lone blocker and he could've went wide and forced Aaron to throw before it was ready or to scramble more and probably get sacked and go to ot and we win