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Bears SIGN Kevin Jones (1Yr/605K)


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Bears sign running back Kevin Jones

 

July 15, 2008

BY BRAD BIGGS Staff Reporter

Seven days before the Bears are to report for training camp the club deemed running back a need, signing veteran Kevin Jones.

 

The former first-round draft pick of the Detroit Lions checked out medically Tuesday morning and signed a one-year contract worth $605,000. Jones comes on board five weeks after Cedric Benson was launched following his second offseason arrest, and provides some depth to a position the team still expects rookie Matt Forte to anchor.

 

Returning from a torn ACL suffered on Dec. 23, Jones might not immediately be on the practice fields at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., and could be a candidate for the physically unable to perform list. Jones had visited the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week and was linked as a possibility for the Pittsburgh Steelers and finally caught interest from the Bears, who otherwise were heading into the season with veteran Adrian Peterson and 2007 third-round pick Garrett Wolfe backing Forte.

 

Jones also suffered a Lisfranc ligament injury in his left foot in 2006 and the injuries, combined with Mike Martz’s pass-happy offense in Detroit derailed what was a promising start to his career. After coming out of Virginia Tech, Jones rushed for 1,133 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie in 2004. Although he scored a career-high eight touchdowns last season, he put up only 581 yards on 153 rushes (3.8 average) before the injury. His best effort of the year came in the Lions’ 16-7 victory at Soldier Field when Jones ran for 105 yards and a score on 23 carries.

 

With a one-year contract, Jones has the opportunity to prove he’s healthy with an eye on a lucrative longterm deal, and the club that gets off the bus running fortifies itself in the backfield.

 

Fantatstic news. I can't be happier about the Bears finally getting someone signed. He's had injury concerns but should be a nice guy to have around to ensure that the Bears are able to ease Forte into his career. He is obviously returning very quickly from an ACL injury so I think our expectations should be to hope he is able to play in one preseason game and can work his way up to being a 10-15 carry a guy for the Bears by about the 3rd week of the season (which is just perfect cause that should help shelter Forte enough to prevent him from hitting some sort of rookie wall by week 12).

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Good deal!

 

Anyone know what number he'll take? I could have sworn her wore 34 in Detroit...and we all know that on'es taken! I'd also be curious if based on that #, is he a fan of Walter?

 

I eagerly await the news conference...

 

Fantatstic news. I can't be happier about the Bears finally getting someone signed. He's had injury concerns but should be a nice guy to have around to ensure that the Bears are able to ease Forte into his career. He is obviously returning very quickly from an ACL injury so I think our expectations should be to hope he is able to play in one preseason game and can work his way up to being a 10-15 carry a guy for the Bears by about the 3rd week of the season (which is just perfect cause that should help shelter Forte enough to prevent him from hitting some sort of rookie wall by week 12).
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Love it. Him and Forte can make a very good duo, IMO. Lets hope he can get healthy and start really producing sooner rather than later.

 

I can cross Jones off my want list now. All that is left on my list before training camp are Bentley and Leftwich. Oh yeah, and to get Williams signed!

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I hope you get your wishes!

 

Love it. Him and Forte can make a very good duo, IMO. Lets hope he can get healthy and start really producing sooner rather than later.

 

I can cross Jones off my want list now. All that is left on my list before training camp are Bentley and Leftwich. Oh yeah, and to get Williams signed!

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This is probably bad news for one of the on-the-bubble receivers (Monk, Hass, etc.). If the BEars had gone in with Forte, AP & Wolfe, you'd think an extra receiver would be retained for special teams purposes, since AP would presumably be the primary back-up to Forte and you'd want him on the field for ST less. Now, they can use AP more on ST, which helps to justify keeping 4 RBs (unless Wolfe is horrible), and that extra receiver is out of luck.

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Keeping 4 backs in no big deal. Last year we had 2 FB and 3 RB's. Instead of having 2 FB's this year, we can just have 1 with 4 RB's. Last year we had 8 LB's, and that was much more crazy than having 4 running backs. Lets break it down:

 

QB - 3

RB - 4

FB - 1

WR - 6

TE - 3

OL - 8

 

OFFENSE - 25

 

DE - 4

DT - 5

LB - 6

CB - 5

S - 5

 

DEFENSE - 25

 

K - 1

p - 1

LS - 1

 

SPECIAL TEAMS - 3

 

TOTAL - 53

 

So, as you see, it's no big deal.

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If things go well for Kevin coming back from the ACL injury, we should do quite well in the running game if the "O" Line does better than last year. Now all we need is to get Williams signed and figure out something of the mess at QB for the season. Not sure what is left out there however, running has just been improved a little bit.

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Sweet.

 

So, are we now keeping 4 backs? If Jones proves to be healthy and ready to play, are Wolfe and AP fighting for job?

I think they will carry 4 backs and one fewer WR. This is because Peterson has incredible value as a special teams player and the Bears just aren't going to give up on Wolfe after one year (on the right roster, Wolfe is a solid pick cause he is very effective as a receiver out of the backfield).

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:headbang This made my day when I heard it on the way home. Very good signing. This allows Peterson to be more of a special teams player which he's one of our best. complete night and day between KJ and Cbass. Signed for a cap friendly deal and gives him a chance to prove he's back healthy. It would be nice if the deal included an option for more years though, I would have to think that if he shows he's he's worth keeping Jerry will extend him.

 

Maybe he'll wear #20

 

The only thing that could make me happier today is if I heard that Williams signed.

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I can breath easy knowing that AP & Wolfe aren't backing up Forte.

 

 

Agreed, I have been saying all along we needed some kind of insurance in case Forte goes down, this gives us exactly that. Great job by Angelo to get us a good upgrade at #2 RB on the budget plan!

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Great job done by JA and Co once again. Kevin Jones wanted to play here, he has his shot, lets hope he shows why he was a first rounder like the other Jones we all loved.

 

With this signing, this will bring us down to approx. less than 2.5 million. We can still cut RMJ which would put us back up to 4.2 million or so. Maybe we can bring in Bentley on a similiar 1 year deal worth about 1.5 to 2 million.

 

All the bittnerness towards the Bears early on when FA started just shows that the ones that wait can still find gems without hurting the salary cap. Theres still 1 or 2 more pieces to find, but don't think the Bears are just sitting on their hands.

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The reason I like this pickup is that Forte and Jones have similar talents as all purpose backs. This means we won't have to adapt any packages or dummy down the playbook, thus making substitutions seamless. Great pick up! Now let's get a left guard in here by camp time and I'll feel much more comfortable. My choice still remains Rueben Brown, if healthy.

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the thing about Jones that I love is that he NEVER takes plays off. This guy has an incredible work ethic, and basically wants to be on the field for all of the 60 minutes in a football game. Hopefully he and Forte form a very good duo, and if so, I'd hope we try and extend him.

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This is nothing short of a great pick up. Kevin Jones seems to be someone who really wants to play and whats more, he REALLY wants to play for the Bears. I see him in the similar category as Mike Brown in that he is going to be a fantastic influence for the younger players regardless of his health. If he is able to make it through half the year the Bears will be doing great. I was really disappointed to see Thomas go away and feel a little bit vindicated in adding someone of his (or better) caliber. This is fantastic!!! Good job Bears..

 

Now for the number....34 won't work but I'm sure he knew that. GOOD LUCK KEVIN!!! and welcome aboard!

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