Ronald Jones is signing with Kansas City, and I think that’s an interesting pairing. He’ll be given an opportunity to carve out a role.
Per reports, it’s a one-year deal with incentives that could allow him to reach $5 million.
Kansas City used a first-round pick on Clyde Edwards-Helaire in 2020, but they haven’t quite been able to fully get him going. He’s awfully small.
Jones was picked in almost the same spot of the draft, only two years earlier (the 38th pick in 2018). He was a complete disaster as a rookie, averaging only 1.9 yards per attempt, but he got it going some in his next two seasons. He had four 100-yard games in 2020, including a 98-yard touchdown. He started ahead of Leonard Fournette for almost all of that season, with Fournette elevated into the starting role for the postseason only after Jones injured his hand and contracted COVID.
Jones was not much of a factor last season. They benched him in the opener after he lost a fumble. And Jones has always been a liability in passing situations, both in protection and with catching the football. He dropped 5 passes in the Super Bowl season.
The limitations in the passing game could restrict how much Kansas City uses him. They’ve got to keep Patrick Mahomes clean, and they need more pass-catching help out of that position after losing Tyreek Hill.
Jones is unlikely to be much of an asset as a pass catcher. Over the last two years, 53 running backs have had at least 50 passes thrown their way, and Jones has been about the least effective or those guys. He’s caught only 38 of the 55 passes thrown his way, and he’s averaged only 6.0 yards on those catches. Poor numbers made worse when factoring in that Tom Brady was at quarterback.
Including incompletions, Jones drops down to 4.2 yards per pass play. That’s next-to-last among running backs over the next two seasons.
I expect Jones will be given every opportunity to help out as a runner, but I don’t think he’ll be a heavily used, featured kind of guy. At best, he would be part of a one-two punch backfield at times. They may go to more of a three-man backfield. Darrel Williams and Jerick McKinnon both look like stronger options on passing downs than Jones or CEH, but both are currently unrestricted free agents.
| RUNNING BACKS: YARDS PER TARGET (last 2 years) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Pct | Avg |
| Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 60 | 54 | 492 | 8 | 90.0% | 8.20 |
| Kyle Juszczyk, S.F. | 67 | 49 | 498 | 8 | 73.1% | 7.43 |
| Jonathan Taylor, Ind. | 90 | 76 | 659 | 32 | 84.4% | 7.32 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson, Atl. | 94 | 73 | 680 | 13 | 77.7% | 7.23 |
| James Conner, Ariz. | 82 | 72 | 590 | 24 | 87.8% | 7.20 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 174 | 130 | 1195 | 30 | 74.7% | 6.87 |
| • Darrel Williams, K.C. | 83 | 65 | 568 | 9 | 78.3% | 6.84 |
| Austin Ekeler, LAC | 159 | 124 | 1050 | 23 | 78.0% | 6.60 |
| Alexander Mattison, Min. | 54 | 45 | 353 | 7 | 83.3% | 6.54 |
| Jamaal Williams, Det. | 63 | 57 | 393 | 6 | 90.5% | 6.24 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 119 | 96 | 739 | 17 | 80.7% | 6.21 |
| Ty Johnson, NYJ | 76 | 50 | 471 | 6 | 65.8% | 6.20 |
| James White, N.E. | 76 | 61 | 469 | 4 | 80.3% | 6.17 |
| Tony Pollard, Dall. | 86 | 67 | 530 | 8 | 77.9% | 6.16 |
| Kareem Hunt, Cle. | 78 | 60 | 478 | 16 | 76.9% | 6.13 |
| David Johnson, Hou. | 88 | 65 | 539 | 9 | 73.9% | 6.13 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 74 | 63 | 452 | 20 | 85.1% | 6.11 |
| Chris Carson, Sea. | 52 | 43 | 316 | 12 | 82.7% | 6.08 |
| J.D. McKissic, Was. | 163 | 123 | 986 | 7 | 75.5% | 6.05 |
| Kenyan Drake, L.V. | 71 | 55 | 428 | 13 | 77.5% | 6.03 |
| D'Andre Swift, Det. | 135 | 108 | 809 | 17 | 80.0% | 5.99 |
| Javonte Williams, Den. | 53 | 43 | 316 | 7 | 81.1% | 5.96 |
| Nyheim Hines, Ind. | 133 | 103 | 792 | 10 | 77.4% | 5.95 |
| Chase Edmonds, Ariz. | 120 | 96 | 713 | 7 | 80.0% | 5.94 |
| Michael Carter, NYJ | 55 | 36 | 325 | 4 | 65.5% | 5.91 |
| Zack Moss, Buff. | 50 | 37 | 292 | 10 | 74.0% | 5.84 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 128 | 99 | 746 | 21 | 77.3% | 5.83 |
| Rex Burkhead, Hou. | 65 | 50 | 378 | 9 | 76.9% | 5.82 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 103 | 78 | 585 | 23 | 75.7% | 5.68 |
| Boston Scott, Phil. | 52 | 38 | 295 | 9 | 73.1% | 5.67 |
| Myles Gaskin, Mia. | 110 | 90 | 622 | 12 | 81.8% | 5.65 |
| Antonio Gibson, Was. | 96 | 78 | 541 | 21 | 81.3% | 5.64 |
| Ameer Abdullah, 2TM | 62 | 46 | 347 | 3 | 74.2% | 5.60 |
| • Clyde Edwards-Helaire, K.C. | 77 | 55 | 426 | 11 | 71.4% | 5.53 |
| • Jerick McKinnon, K.C. | 66 | 46 | 360 | 7 | 69.7% | 5.45 |
| Giovani Bernard, T.B. | 88 | 70 | 478 | 9 | 79.5% | 5.43 |
| Josh Jacobs, L.V. | 109 | 87 | 586 | 21 | 79.8% | 5.38 |
| Jeremy McNichols, Ten. | 55 | 40 | 295 | 2 | 72.7% | 5.36 |
| James Robinson, Jac. | 106 | 80 | 566 | 18 | 75.5% | 5.34 |
| Devontae Booker, NYG | 66 | 57 | 352 | 6 | 86.4% | 5.33 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 51 | 37 | 268 | 27 | 72.5% | 5.25 |
| Leonard Fournette, T.B. | 131 | 105 | 687 | 16 | 80.2% | 5.24 |
| Darrell Henderson, LAR | 64 | 45 | 335 | 14 | 70.3% | 5.23 |
| Kenneth Gainwell, Phil. | 50 | 33 | 253 | 6 | 66.0% | 5.06 |
| Devin Singletary, Buff. | 100 | 78 | 497 | 10 | 78.0% | 4.97 |
| Najee Harris, Pitt. | 94 | 74 | 467 | 10 | 78.7% | 4.97 |
| Mike Davis, Atl. | 128 | 103 | 632 | 12 | 80.5% | 4.94 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 66 | 47 | 323 | 4 | 71.2% | 4.89 |
| Devonta Freeman, Balt. | 52 | 41 | 248 | 7 | 78.8% | 4.77 |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 136 | 99 | 625 | 20 | 72.8% | 4.60 |
| Melvin Gordon, Den. | 82 | 60 | 371 | 20 | 73.2% | 4.52 |
| Ronald Jones, T.B. | 55 | 38 | 229 | 12 | 69.1% | 4.16 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 86 | 54 | 355 | 6 | 62.8% | 4.13 |
—Ian Allan