The New Orleans Saints waived running back Velus Jones Jr. on Tuesday. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he used to be a receiver, one who was taken in the third round of the 2022 draft after
his college career at USC and Tennessee.
At the college level, he was named the SEC special teams player of the year in 2021, handling both kickoff return and punt return duties for the Volunteers. He never stuck as a receiver with the Chicago Bears, who drafted him, but he was a productive kick returner for them, taking 39 balls for 1,042 yards and a long of 63 yards.
This year, he transitioned to running back for the New Orleans Saints. The 28-year-old returned eight kickoffs for 183 yards and a long of 30 for the Saints before he was waived today.
Jones was one of 30 visitors that the Green Bay Packers brought in during the pre-draft process in 2022, along with future Packers Tariq Carpenter, Samori Toure, Devonte Wyatt, Christian Watson, Rasheed Walker, Romeo Doubs, John FitzPatrick, Darian Kinnard, Benjie Franklin, Greg Junior, Jean Delance and Jahmir Johnson.
So there’s some familiarity here, if Green Bay wants to improve its kickoff returner situation. In the Packers’ last game, rookie receiver Savion Williams became the first player in NFL history to kneel out three balls that previously hit the landing zone for a 20-yard touchback under the dynamic kickoff rules. Simply not kneeling balls that were put in play would be an improvement from what we saw from Williams against the Dallas Cowboys in a 40-40 tie.
At the moment, the Packers have two open roster spots on their 53-man roster, so a waiver claim of Jones would not take a corresponding roster move.
