posted June 27, 2002 03:19 AM                  

All of the offensive powerhouses are in the West are going to force Arizona to play musical chairs in the open field with the rock coming out of Plummer's cannon. The backfield situation will be irrelevant in Arizona in the 2nd half of football games. However the defense will realize what Arizona needs to do and focus solely on pass rushing and covering the Arizona wide-outs, meanwhile Arizona will stay at their game and still feed TJ the ball despite being down by two touches. With everyone focused on the pass, all Thomas Jones needs to do is juke or break one tackle and he's good for a 20+ yard run and maybe a touchdown if the opposing D is caught off guard. The Arizona as an offense is better than last year, last year doesn't matter to Thomas Jones. Much like a smart car company does when it's old product is going out of style, they come out with a new one. Well Thomas Jones realized he wasn't getting the job done in 2000 and 2001, so he's coming out with the 2002 model.

Thomas Jones deciding to hit the weight room non-stop this offseason and has put on some pure muscle. "I really anticipate Thomas having an exciting season," wide receiver Frank Sanders said. "I hope he stays healthy, because he has a chance to do what he's been trying to do -- be a starter. He's bigger, he's more defined. He definitely put in some hours on the weights." The offensive line is stronger this season with more experience. Behind them is a number of guys on their last year of contract including Jake Plummer, David Boston, Martay Jenkins, and Frank Sanders. The addition of Freddie Jones should ease the situation and Thomas Jones should be able to have the most room he's ever had to run in the NFL. While he won't get the number of carries most people would expect, he'll still lay down some decent but not spectacular stats.

RB19 Thomas Jones [ARI]: 1,090 rushing yards, 240 receiving yards, and 7 total touchdowns. Injury risk: 3 out of 10.

posted June 26, 2002 11:10 AM                

Cardinals | Looking At Their Free Agents - from KFFL (http://nfl.kffl.com)
February 10, 2002 18:26:34 PT Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic reports for the Sporting News the Arizona Cardinals appear to have set their priorities for re-signing their own free agents. The top two they want to re-sign are S Kwamie Lassiter and RT Anthony Clement. They appear poised to let RB Michael Pittman go if he is given a huge offer from another team. RB Thomas Jones showed enough improvement late last season to make coaches more comfortable that he could succeed as the starting back.

2nd-Jones has added some muscle to help him take the pounding of a NFL RB.

Cardinals | Jones Bulks Up - from KFFL (http://nfl.kffl.com)
May 13, 2002 16:38:08 PT Mike Jurecki, reporting for AZCardinals.com, reports Arizona Cardinals RB Thomas Jones, the team's current No. 1 tailback, has bulked up during the off-season to become stronger and take the pounding an every-down back typically sees. He's counting on the chance to touch the football 18-22 times per game this year.

3rd-Arizona has the WR threat of David Boston to force D's to respect the passing game, rather than stack the line to stop the run.

4th-Arizona has a HUGE offensive line that appeared to play better towards the end of last year.

5th-Jones' breathing problems hampered him the last 2 years. He has now been properly diagnosed (hopefully) and should be able to play at 100%.

6th-Based on Jones' college stats, he seems to need time to "learn" the offense. His #s improved every year, with the big jump coming between year 2 to year 3.

Rushing
Year G Att. Yards Avg. Long TD
1996 11 36 205 5.7 NA 3
1997 11 201 692 3.4 NA 4
1998 11 238 1303 5.5 NA 13
1999 11 334 1,798 5.4 71 16
Totals 44 809 3,998 4.9 NA 36
Receiving
Year G No. Yards Avg. Long TD
1996 11 4 26 6.5 25 0
1997 11 17 127 7.5 37 1
1998 11 28 179 5.4 19 2
1999 11 22 239 10.9 84 1
Totals 44 49 496 10.1 84 4

Finally-Projections
1025 rush yards, 250 receiving yards, 8 rush TDs, 2 rec TDs
Injury risk 4/10

These stats come from an average of 17 carries/game and 3.7 ypc, with 40 receptions with a modest yards per catch of 6.5 yards. There is the potential for much more. IMO this makes Jones a solid #2, with the upside of being more. If you can get him in the 5th round or later, I think he is a good bargain.

posted June 27, 2002 04:41 AM                

The departure of Michael Pittman to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers opened a whole new possibility for Jones. Some have stated that Jones is not talented enough to blossom into a starting runningback, citing that he was unable to beat out Pittman in the two years that they played together. The fact of the matter is - Jones was not given a chance to beat Pittman out. Jones gave way to Pittman after only four games his rookie year. In his first two seasons in the NFL, Jones’ most carries per game was 23 (the second game of his rookie season), and the only time he has carried the ball more than 20 times in his career. Through two seasons he has averaged only 8 carries a game. Hardly enough to get into any kind of groove.

Past health problems had an effect on his performance as well. Jones had been bothered by shortness of breath in his first two seasons which often sent him to the sidelines during games. During the offseason it was discovered that three ribs were pressing on a nerve in his chest. The problem has been remedied.

Another knock on Jones when he was drafted was his size. No one questioned his quickness, but he didn’t really have the size to break too many tackles at the NFL level. The critics were correct in that criticism, as he often had trouble getting past the first tackler. So, Jones committed himself to improving physically for the 2002 season. Through intensive workouts he has added extra weight (10 to 15 lbs.) without sacrificing his speed.

Now Jones is bigger, healthier, and has a coaching staff that has confidence in him. He will be an every down back for the Cardinals and will even be used at the goal line. The Cardinals have a solid offensive line for Jones to run behind. Expectations are that he will carry the ball 20-25 times a game. His increased size will help to improve his YPC.

Projections: 1200 Rushing – 350 Receiving – 10 TDs
Injury Risk: 3/10

posted June 26, 2002 05:20 PM                

Next: He has talent (this comment often cited by his high draft choice). Against the wimp teams he's racked up a 3.4 YPC, I shudder to think what he'll do against StL, SF, SEA, KC, OAK, SD, and the like. College talent does not convert so I guess I don't buy the talent arguement until I see NFL talent. Jones hasn't shown.

Lastly, he's poised. With some experience now, getting over injury, and some confidence about "liking him well enough to let Pittman go" (which really means: "too cheap to pay more than the league minimum for most players") he should perform. I have not seen him getting better through the years so experience doesn't cut it for me. The fact that he sits out with injuries at all is more worrisome than the idea that he's over them. And I've had to watch AZ (live in PHX) for 7 years now and I have to agree that reading "confidence" in releasing Pittman is most likely an error. Not to mention the fact that Jones Does have confidence problems. His rookie year he complained about the pressure and how he didn't feel comfortable as the #1 RB.

That said, I'll obviously join the nay-sayers and lowball Mr. Jones.

6-7 total TD's and about 800 combined yards (largely because I don't expect him to play all the time either via injury or simply getting yanked). Perhaps pessimistic but for a guy like Jones, I'd much rather err on the low side so I don't even flirt with putting him on my team.

posted June 26, 2002 09:29 PM                

No RB has gotten 300+ carries in the desert. Hardly any season has there been a top20 RB out of the Cardinals. There are a lot of reasons for this but I think wasting a 5th or 6th round pick on a RB3 at best is a waste. Especially when the 5th and 6th round should be loaded with potential top10 and top15 WR as well as some solid QBs.

There are some very credible people(Chris Smith) who like Jones chances. I cannot believe Chase manhattan and I are going to agree on this but I am not going anywhere near Jones before maybe the 10th round. That might be good value here. Maybe not even at that round.

Did the Cardinals defense suddenly get good? Are the Birds going to be close in the games against the Niners, Seahawks, and Rams? I think NOT! People need to figure out how to get their hands on David Boston because the Cardinals are going to play Ketchup. OL is better but TJ is not the answer.

Prediction: 200 car, 700yds, 4 TD, 40 rec, 300 yds, 1TD =130 pts.

Those are not starter numbers. It will be a nothing short of a miracle if this guy has 300 carries for 1200yds and 10 rush TD. Just not gonna happen.

Player Name

Team

Total Yards

TD

Fant. Pts.

Thomas Jones

Ari.

168.5