I was looking at Derrick Jones highlights earlier and I was determined to find some clips of him. NYJets.com had an interview that showed a few clips and these are the GIF's that I made.
#1. Control, awareness, speed and explosiveness
This is total text book, from using his inside arm to guide the receiver taking the outside release, to staying under control and playing the ball and not the receiver. Let me explain why this play is so damn impressive. The play starts at the 31 yard line and ends at the 6 yard line where he breaks up the pass. Jones uses his inside arm to gauge what the receiver wants to do, putting him in position to stay with the receiver within the 1st 5 yards of the play. After those 5 yards he doesnt touch the receiver again. Jones notices at the 26 yard line that the receiver turns his head to track the ball, jones proceeds to turn his head when they're at the 24 yard line. This is the crazy part. Jones tracks the ball in the air for 18 yards, yet the play from start to finish was only 25 total yards. Jones completely outplayed the receiver on this play. To breakdown the 25 yards, the first 5 yards Jones uses his inside arm to guage the receivers outside release, from yards 5 to 7 Jones notices that the receiver is looking back to track the ball and takes just 2 yards in order to respond to track the ball as well. For the next 18 yards Derrick Jones is playing the ball in the air, fading toward the sideline along with the receiver at the 15 yard line. Then the best part of this play, Jones attacks the ball at the highest point (same as the receiver). The thing is though, Jones doesnt know that the receiver is going to in fact attack the ball at the heighest point given that Jones has been playing the football in the air for the past 18 yards and not the receiver. Jones slows down at the 10 yard line in order to prepare himself to attack the ball, and uses his 6-2 height and 41 inch vertical to break up this pass.
For 18 of the 25 yards Jones played the ball. Jones never once got "feely" in an effort to get an idea of where the receiver was because it simply didnt matter, Jones knew where the ball was and decided to attack the ball and not the receiver after the initial 7 yards. He used textbook technique when the receiver decided to use the outside release. Jones shows great hip flexibility and great acceleration to be able to turn with the receiver while staying right in the receiver's hip pocket for the first 7 yards then playing the football for the duration of the play ending the play by high-pointing the ball and not once interfering with the route of the receiver. This shows absolute confidence in his ability to stay with the receiver and the play. Probably because he has excellent ability to track the ball given that he's a former WR. He also shows great hand-eye coordination being able to stick one hand in there to break up the pass while having the athletic ability to land and stay on his feet while the receiver ended up also trying to high-point the ball but ended up on the floor and Jones over him.
Jones only gets better. Here's the next play.
#2. Discipline and self confidence.
In this clip the we see the receiver try to fake Jones out with a triple move. Move 1. He fakes the outside release to his left which forces Jones to use technique by attempting to shoot his inside arm to gauge and control the outside release while moving his outside foot back in order to make the potential turn up field, the receiver quickly fakes back showing an inside release which causes Jones to quickly pull back his inside hand check and Jones takes a quick yet slight hop-step with both feet to maintain a neutral defensive posture, the receiver once again quickly fakes back outside and utilizes a swim move to ultimately get a free, virtually unimpeded outside release. Jones never once seems concerned about the triple move, swim and free release of the receiver. Jones quick hip turn after the hop step and great acceleration keeps Jones in the hip pocket of the receiver. This gif shows how Jones hip fluidity is truly top notch. Jones runs the route with the receiver in which the receiver begins his break inside and turning his head to track the pass at the 45 yard line. Jones responds by turning his head at the 48 yard line in order to track the ball. From the 48 yard line of the opponents side of the field until to the 47 yard line of his side of the field, where he ultimately intercepts the ball, he tracks the ball and uses his left arm as a visual extension to see and feel where the receiver is in space though without creating enough contact as to warrant a flag. He put his hand out there to reassure that the the receiver is where he believe he is to be. As soon as he notices that the receiver isnt coming back to the ball Jones knows that he just ran this route better than the receiver and is in excellent position to make the play on the ball. Jones intercepts the ball, and runs it back 53 yards untouched for the pick 6.
Yet another example of Jones tracking the ball, but this time adding his ability to trust himself and not panic at the LOS with triple moves, fakeouts and swim moves. Jones understands the WR position because he was once a WR. He trust his ability to stay with the receiver with his 4.40 speed, his ability to quickly turn his hips as well as his acceleration to be able to let a receiver free from the LOS but stay in their hip pocket. Most of all, watching his feet not get tangled up and tripping over themselves while keeping a neutral base in order to ultimately shadow the receiver when he decides to actually make a decision when going up field is rather elite from an athletic point of view. And speaking of shadowing...
#3. Shadowing the receiver stride for stride.
This right here is just ridiculous. It looks like Jones is covering the slot so there will be no touching of the receiver and the receiver will get a free release with enough field real estate to work his route. This clip has to be the most impressive of all because it's arguably the most difficult of the 3 given that he has no boundary to work with in support of his defense. This is pure coverage skills at its finest. And when I say at its finest, I want you to look at both players legs and look how Jones absolutely shadows this guy's every stride and cut on this route. Jones literally runs this route better than the receiver because once again, he allows to receiver his release but doesnt panic and his athleticism allows him to stay with the receiver once past him but his anticipation of the route is truly off the charts here. Look at how Jones cut on the route didnt come after the receivers cut. It was at the exact same time. This level of anticipation and being able to "feel" whats coming is world class. And as usual, the best part of the play is coming up. Notice how Jones once again cuts under the route and uses his acceleration to not just to get in between the ball and the receiver but he actually breaks back to the quarterback...a trait of a wide receiver! He also once again high points the ball. Also, because he's a former WR and he totally ran that route better than the receiver, you can also see that Jones turned around to track the ball at the exact same time the receiver did. This is just a spectacular play. And just to show you how much space Jones put in between himself and the receiver when coming back to the football, here's a video of this play from a different angle in slow mo. View the play at the 1:50 mark.
He has about a 3 yard separation after high pointing the ball for the interception. This is a phenomenal effort, skill and understanding from a guy who was in all honesty just recently converted to DB.
As I said in his draft thread, if this is the norm of Derrick Jones and it translates to the NFL this guy is an instant steal, could end up being the best CB in the class and could very well be the next Richard Sherman given the similar circumstance of converting from WR to CB. Having that coverage radius being able to high point the ball consistently while having natural hands of a WR and shadowing receivers like this is downright scary.
I got to give much praise to Macc on this pick here. These 3 plays here are absolutely spectacular from a "raw" player who's new to the position.
Oh and just for comparison sake.
Richardson ran a 4.56 at the combine, Jones ran in the 4.40's at his pro day. Sherman had a 38 inch vert jump, Jones had a 41 in vert. Richardson was stronger however, benching 225lbs 16 times to Jones 9. Strength you can develop though, anticipation, feel of a play, coverage radius, awareness, self confidence etc is something that can compensate for those 9 reps. He may not win a press battle at the LOS, but if he's a shadow throughout the play will it even make a difference?
I cant wait to see this guy on the field. Let me know what you guys think? Any Jets fans, football/NFL fans? Lets talk about your favorite players in the comment section. If you like the content please take the time out to follow and announce your presence below!
Jeti Knight.
