Josh Jones is a new kind of safety, one the Packers desperately needed.
The Green Bay Packers did a lot of good things on NFL draft weekend, but one of the best picks by far will be the selection of NC State safety Josh Jones in the second round.
When the Packers selected Jones, you might have been asking, why another safety, when the Packers could have used another corner? Well the answer, is that Jones will prove to be much more than just a safety.
Sure, he will play a safety-type role. He will probably play in a lot of the same spots that Micah Hyde used to. But in another sense, he can and will do so much more.
Athletically, there is no comparison between Jones and Hyde, who is a good football player, but a pedestrian athlete.
Hyde is 6-0, 212 pounds and runs a 4.56 40. Jones, on the other hand, is 6-1, 220 pounds and runs the 40 in 4.41. He also outperformed Hyde in every other measurable test. Simply put, Jones is bigger, faster and stronger. And while measureables aren't the only thing that matter, at the NFL level, they still matter quite a bit.
I like Hyde. He was solid in Green Bay and obviously, he had always had a knack for finding the ball. He made big plays sure, but he also gave up more than his fair share. He's a decent third safety, but he's a bad nickel corner. If he has to cover anyone one-on-one, you're team is in trouble.
Hyde is too slow for wide outs, too small for tight ends and sometimes too slow. With Jones, that won't be the case.
But the real reason to be excited about Jones, is that he gives the Packers a new-age defensive back they have been missing. Like the Cardinals have done with Deone Bucannon, Green Bay should use Jones plenty as a linebacker, especailly in their nickel and dime packages. He's almost built like one, but runs like a DB.
Jones can run, he can hit and he can cover. Like Hyde, he can also make plays on the ball.
In three years for the Wolfpack, he intercepted eight passes, notched 4.5 sacks and had three forced fumbles to go along with 17 passes defensed.
Jones is still raw. He is a big hitter that sometimes overuns plays and gets hurt by being too aggressive. However, the Packers need that agression. They need that physical presence, who can be all over the field and Jones can be that guy.
Hyde was a solid player, but Jones brings an entirely different dimension to the Green Bay defense, one it hasn't had previoulsy in the Dom Capers era.
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