Packers GM explains decision to release S Josh Jones

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By: Zach Kruse | August 27, 2019 12:03 pm ET

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst specifically pointed to “fit,” both on the field and at an organizational level, as the leading reason for why the team released third-year safety and former second-round pick Josh Jones.


The Packers waived Jones with a non-football illness on Sunday.

“I don’t think anything went wrong with Josh, I think it might not have been the best fit,” Gutekunst said Tuesday. “Josh is a talented player, we wish him the best. We really tried to make it work here, it just came to a point where it was time. We needed some bodies for this game and Josh hasn’t been able to be out there. It was time.”

Jones, the 61st overall pick in 2017, had missed the last two weeks of training camp and all three preseason games with an unspecified illness.

After being waived Sunday, Jones went unclaimed on waivers and is now a free agent.

Although Jones possesses both the size and speed to be an effective hybrid player at safety and linebacker, Gutekunst reiterated that a player’s fit on a team goes beyond what he can do between the lines.

“I think fit is not only your ability on the field, but in the organization as a whole,” Gutekunst said. “We wish him well. I’m fond of Josh, and I think he’s going to have a bright career in front of him. It’ll be interesting where he ends up.”

The relationship between Jones and the Packers began fracturing last season. The 2017 second-round pick publicly complained about playing time, setting the stage for a wild and unpredictable offseason that saw Jones skip voluntary OTAs and sit out of the mandatory minicamp.

Although he reported to training camp on time, Jones was buried on the depth chart behind starters Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage and eventually lost his dime linebacker spot to Raven Greene. He was involved in an on-field fight early in camp and then wasn’t able to practice or play due to an illness.

Sunday’s release provided an anticlimactic end to a two-year stint in Green Bay that saw Jones flash impressive playmaking ability but also frustrate coaches with an inability to handle the safety role and a disinterest in playing linebacker.

Often, when a disappointing player without a role becomes a potential distraction, the player is removed. That’s exactly what happened with Jones in Green Bay.

 

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Cowboys sign ex Packers safety Josh Jones to practice squad - but this transaction is about something more

by Mike Fisher


FRISCO - The Dallas Cowboys are attempting to be coy regarding their signing of ex Packers safety Josh Jones - "Hey, it's just to the practice squad'' - but I think it means much more than that.

The Cowboys have lost Kavon Frazier (pec surgery) for the season and have moved him to IR. That creates a vacancy on the 53-man roster. For the moment, they are elevating receiver Ventell Bryant, an undrafted rookie from Temple, to the 53, the announced thinking being that the 6-3 Bryant may be able to contribute on special teams.

But in truth, it's unlikely that Bryant will be able to contribute to the Cowboys, an all ways, as Jones can.

Dallas provided a tryout to Jones here at The Star recently, and obviously the Cowboys personnel department liked what it saw. At the time, the thinking was insurance due to safety Xavier Woods' injury. But Woods in back and he's fine. And another rookie, Donovan Wilson from Texas A&M, is getting healthy enough to be on the 46-man game-day roster.

But I believe the eventual plan for former Green Bay safety Jones is to work behind starters Woods and Jeff Heath, to battle for safety snaps with Wilson, and most of all to attempt to replicate the core special-teams work of the eliminated Frazier. (By the way: No, this isn't about Dallas wanting to "pick the brain'' of Jones for Packers intel, a concept that is largely an NFL myth.)

Jones is a former second-round pick out of North Carolina State who’s tenure as a Packer was a short one.

After a time during which Jones was asking for a trade, in August, the Packers waived Jones, who had been dealing with a non-football illness. And they did so despite the fact that Jones played in 29 games in two seasons with Green Bay, starting 12 of them. He recorded 100 tackles, including three sacks, and an interception.

Whatever it was that the Packers once saw in the 6-2, 220-pound Jones, who just turned 25 -- enough to have used a premium pick on him, enough to have given a starting role to him - the Cowboys now hope to see on the practice field, especially as a special-teamer, a role he played in Green Bay.

And indeed, on Wednesday, he debuted on the field at The Star wearing No. 26 and serving on the kickoff-coverage scout team ... as did Bryant.

This is an unfortunate day for Kavon Frazier and an on-paper big day for Ventell Bryant (who to his credit caught 14 passes in the Bengals preseason). But the Dallas' transaction juggle is really about Josh Jones and what he can do ... and if he shows what he can do soon enough to vault to the 53-man roster in time for Sunday's game against his former team, the Packers.

 

[NoDak]

I loved Josh Jones in the draft and hoped we'd take him in the 2nd. Was disappointed when we passed, but was happy with the Chidobe Awuzie pick. Packers took Jones with the next pick.

I don't know what caused him to not click in Green Bay, but it wasn't a lack of athleticism and skill. Hopefully he can get his head straight and put it all together here.

 

[Smitty]

I loved Josh Jones in the draft and hoped we'd take him in the 2nd. Was disappointed when we passed, but was happy with the Chidobe Awuzie pick. Packers took Jones with the next pick.

I don't know what caused him to not click in Green Bay, but it wasn't a lack of athleticism and skill. Hopefully he can get his head straight and put it all together here.

You know Garrett is the right coach to get all that talent out of him.

 

[NoDak]

You know Garrett is the right coach to get all that talent out of him.

If I thought Garrett had anything to do with the day to day development of players, I'd worry. But he doesn't. So I don't.

 

[data]

Good. I think he'll stick.