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CURRENT ADP: Overall #228 / RB #71
ANALYSIS: Matt Jones wasn’t big on my radar until the Redskins took him in the third round despite the steady production of Alfred Morris. Per Player Profiler, Jones isn’t very athletic (SPARQ-x score in the 48th percentile) and wasn’t very dominant in college (25th percentile College Dominator rating). At 6’2” 232 lbs though, he was the tallest and heaviest running back drafted this year. His 4.61 40 yard dash isn’t very impressive at first, but his Speed Score, a metric that adjusts 40 times for weight, ranked 5th of all backs at the combine. That was ahead of well regarded prospects like T.J. Yeldon, Duke Johnson and Ameer Abdullah.
In two preseason games so far, Jones has put up an extremely impressive 6.3 YPC on 13 carries and had a goal line touchdown as well. Via Pro Football Focus, Jones is 2nd among all RBs with at least 10 carries in yards after contact per attempt. He is also the highest graded of the Redskins backs in the preseason so far.
He isn’t stealing Alfred Morris’ job anytime soon but as far as handcuffs go, Jones looks to be one of the better ones for this season. If you draft Alfred Morris early or you are in a deeper league where some backup running backs are being drafted, put Matt Jones on your radar. Morris has yet to miss a game in his career, but that can change quickly in the NFL. Morris’ yards and YPC have declined in each of his seasons as well. If that trend should continue, it may not even require an injury to put Jones at the top of the depth chart. I’m definitely not counting on it but with Jones looking strong in the preseason I’ll be taking a late flier on him.
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