‘I don’t want to lose this place,’ Bears’ Jones says about trade offer
Velus Jones Jr. is glad he’s still here.
On the season finale of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” this week, Bears general manager Ryan Poles mentioned to coach Matt Eberflus that he had received a call from another team asking about trading for Jones.
Poles didn’t say which team or what the offer included in return for Jones, but he told Eberflus that he wouldn’t consider trading Jones for anything less than a fourth-round pick.
“I’m trying to draw the line of what I would do,” Poles said on the episode. “I would never go below a four [fourth-round pick]. The value, does it make sense on paper? That’s unbelievable value. Does it make sense for the Bears right now?”
The answer, in Poles’ mind, was no.
This week at Halas Hall, Jones said he learned about the trade offer from his agent.
“I’m still happy I’m a Chicago Bear,” Jones said. “I don’t want to lose this place. This place is special. Ryan and the staff, they believe in me, so I’m pretty excited for this year.”
The Bears kept Jones on the 53-man roster and have continued to view him as a weapon who can contribute in multiple ways. Poles’ praise for Jones on “Hard Knocks” speaks volumes.
Running backs coach Chad Morton also vouched strongly for Jones in a team meeting on the episode. Morton told Eberflus and Poles there was nobody at the running back position whom he would vouch for more.
Later, in a private meeting with the player, Morton told Jones he was proud of the way that Jones picked up the running back position so quickly. In the preseason finale Jones ran for 111 yards and a touchdown.
Morton is in his first year as the Bears running backs coach. He spent the previous 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, including as run game coordinator for Shane Waldron during the past two seasons. With D’Andre Swift, Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson at the running back position, it seems unlikely Jones will see a ton of touches.
Still, there’s a hard-nosed attitude that Jones brings to the table.
“You see him running out there trying to lower his shoulder,” Morton said earlier this summer. “Sometimes you’ve got to talk a running back into doing that, you know? You would think it’s just natural, but a lot of guys [don’t] want to try to get extra yards.”
Jones provides a unique blend of speed, size and that willingness to lower his shoulder. That’s what makes him a dangerous kick returner, too.
Jones likely will be the team’s top kick returner. He finished fourth in the NFL in yards per return in 2022 before a 2023 rule change led to a record number of touchbacks across the league. Now, with yet another rule change, the expectation is that kick returns will be back, and the Bears believe Jones can provide an edge.
“[He’s] that big and that fast and then, now, he’s gained a tremendous amount of confidence because he is making a lot more plays now and, obviously, he has done a great job on offense,” Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. “He’s always done a great job in the kicking game, so [I’m] just looking for him to keep growing, and [I’m] excited about his development.”
Poles drafted Jones with a third-round pick in 2022. Jones was the first offensive player Poles drafted as GM. Jones has only 11 receptions and 281 yards from scrimmage in 26 games. But this summer proved emphatically that the Bears aren’t ready to give up on Jones yet.
Jones, for what it’s worth, was confident all along that he would be a part of this 53-man roster.
“I’ve been confident,” Jones said. “Confidence always wins with me. I’d say the past two years, I didn’t have the results I wanted, but that’s in the past now. People can talk about that all they want. I mean, that doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a new year, new season. I’m just trying to get better.”