Linebacker Vi Jones will be the fifth linebacker the Bucs will expect to see a significant amount of snaps this season. At the beginning of the 2024 season, the starters were Lavonte David and KJ Britt, with backup Sarvosia Dennis filling the nickelback role. Dennis was lost for the season with an injury in Week 4, and Britt missed the Bucks’ Week 13 game against the Panthers with an injury of his own. He will likely miss at least one more game. JJ Russell played most of the Panthers’ games, but missed Week 14 due to injury.
As a result, Jones will play in last week’s game against the Raiders. He played 40 snaps. I looked at all of that to see what he’s like as a player, what he brings to the table, and whether he can provide a spark to a position group that has struggled for most of this year. .
Look at the numbers
Bucs ILB Vi Jones – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
pro football reference Last week, Vee Jones credited five total tackles. pro football focus He also said he didn’t miss any tackles. He was not recognized by the scoring site as a defensive stop, defined as a tackle that resulted in a “failure” for the offense, and his average tackle depth on run plays was 6.0 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. and nfl pro Jones credited himself with being the closest defender to one target, resulting in a 25-yard catch.
The catch allowed was a third-and-four in the fourth quarter, with the Bucs applying six-man pressure and Jones falling out of a predicament in the A-gap. As three players were running a crossing pattern in the middle of the field, Jones was redirected on two shallows and lost tight end Block Bowlers on a deep cross.
It’s possible Jones should have followed Bowers, a difficult task under any circumstances, let alone the position he was in. But it’s also possible that Jamel Dean shouldn’t have followed tight end Michael Myers’ shallow route and picked up Bowers. We’ll probably never know if Dean had a follow tag on that play.
Vi Jones Tape – Bucks vs. Raiders
The main thing I want to tell you when I look at Vi Jones is that he’s a much better athlete than J.J. Russell or K.J. Britt. It appears as he moves through space. He’s not an elite athlete. However, he is a significant upgrade over the other two. Let’s take a look at his measurements as he graduates from college in 2022.
Vi Jones is a LB prospect in the 2022 draft class. He received a RAS of 8.87 out of 10.00. This ranked him 274th out of 2419 LBs from 1987-2022. #RAS pic.twitter.com/ivfF6qRo3Y
— Kent Lee Pratt (@MathBomb) May 2, 2022
Now, I would like to say that after watching Jones, I couldn’t have imagined that his test would turn out like this. this good. But he’s 100% progressing in terms of being able to flip his hips and change direction during the drop. This should give head coach Todd Bowles more comfort with Jones in the hook zone in the middle of the field or as a cover-two pole runner.
coverage
It’s a small sample size, but I generally thought Vi Jones did a decent job of diagnosing root concepts and reacting correctly to what he was dealing with in coverage. Las Vegas ran quite a mesh in front of him, with multiple receivers crossing each other. Jones was careful not to bite the starting receiver and showed solid recognition skills to react appropriately to the whole concept, especially as it relates to teammate movement. Subtle movements at landmarks also helped him close the space with his closest defender. This is what Britt K.J. lacked all season, staying glued to his own drop zone instead of finding the right to deter opposing quarterbacks from throwing.
Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised to see a receiver turn the ball around and see how quickly he tried to turn his head. When the Raiders dropped into the low red zone, Jones adapted to the action, communicated what he was seeing during the play to his teammates, and helped limit rollouts without leaving receivers open. Ta.
Now, he’s not a great predictor, diagnosing plays before the snap to get to a spot early. He is definitely a “read and react” linebacker and requires a lot of communication to perform at his best. And running mate Lavonte David provided that for him, and provided that for this game as well.
Jones isn’t the type of person you’d want covering an elite athlete. The Raiders were able to isolate Jones one-on-one with first-round pick Brock Bowers on the outside in the end zone, and it was…well, as expected. Jones panicked and Bowers drew a defensive pass interference call. Bowers also left Jones in the dust on sail routes, using power on the outside and Jones unable to make the transition from vertical drop to lateral quickly enough. But there are few linebackers in the NFL who can keep up with Bowers in those situations.
In general, I think Jones can improve coverage Beyond Brit, Russell is PFF’s 84th graded coverage linebacker out of 86 players who qualified, and Russell also has a 52.7 grade, which would rank him tied for 63rd if he were eligible.
run defense
Bucs ILB Vi Jones – Photo by Cliff Welch/PR
Vi Jones’ tendency to read and react to plays extends to the run game as well. He has more deliberate movements, as if to avoid getting sucked into the initial direction of the play, and doesn’t want to get out of position. This is part of the reason why his average tackle depth during the game was so high. He’s late getting to the ball carrier. And his lightweight frame allows offensive linemen to generate some real movement when they get their hands on him. In this game, Jones didn’t show any downhill mentality to meet the ball carrier in the hole.
As a tackler, Jones looks more like a guy who gets dragged to the ground than a hitter. The Bucs’ team website lists him at 225 pounds, the same as when he graduated from North Carolina State University in 2022. That’s far too safe in today’s NFL. If he doesn’t have the instinctive ability to get to his spot before his blockers, he won’t be able to generate the power needed to make a difference in run defense. And he wasn’t able to show that ability in this match.
Expectations should be tempered by the presence of the third-year undrafted free agent, who will take the field for the first time 13 weeks into this season. But in a limited sample size, he showed some things other Bucs linebackers have struggled with this year. And at this point, this defense may move a little.
Players can play a solid game. And Jones’ performance against the Raiders was far more consistent than good. Last year, JJ Russell had a good game in Week 13 against Carolina. KJ Britt was good enough at the end of 2023 that the Bucks were comfortable with him as the starter opposite Lavonte David starting this year. A complete evaluation cannot be made in one game.
“When Vi came in, he played well,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said this week.
In terms of predictable skills, Jones played the role of linebacker from an athletic standpoint, and he was generally where he was supposed to be. And that’s not a bad start heading into Los Angeles to take on the Chargers in Week 15.
