2012 Senior Bowl practices come to a close today with the game set to kick off tomorrow afternoon at 1:00pm PT. One player having a stand-out week is wide receiver Marvin Jones. The Cal product put together a solid career with the Bears in spite of having some inconsistent quarterbacks throwing to him (sorry Kevin Riley fans).
Alfie Crow of Big Cat Country continued his in-person rundown of practices and had a few comments about Jones' Wednesday performance:
Jones continues to beat press coverage and drive defenders off in his cuts. He doesn't seem to waste any movement in his routes either and seems to catch everything. Jones also gives maximum effort on every play and held his own in run blocking drills.
Analyst Matt Waldman had more extensive thoughts about Jones that were quite effusive in complimenting the receiver. Waldman indicated Jones excelled in just about every aspect of the Wednesday's practice. He described Jones as a light-footed runner with strong change of direction and extremely sound technique, with great willingness and intensity in run-blocking. Waldman compared Jones' potential to that of a Donald Driver. You can read an interview Waldman conducted with Jones this week. It includes some really interesting material.
I bring up Jones in part because our old friends at Draft Tek projected out Jones to the 49ers in the 5th round. Projecting many picks, particularly late picks like this is sometimes a fool's errand, but it did at least get me re-thinking about Jones. The Cal receiver was overshadowed by Keenan Allen this past season, but he has quietly gone about his business in a workman-like manner.
I spoke with some folks over at California Golden Blogs who described Jones as having great technique, a great ability to adjust to the ball, great awareness of the catch and generally strong athletic ability. Jones is listed at 6-3, 202 but he measured in at a "tall" 6'1 and 198 pounds. In poking around looking for info on Jones, the general belief is that he will need to add some weight. The 49ers list Crabtree at 6'1, 214 and Morgan at 6'1, 215.
Jones would not appear to be that big play receiver some folks are jones'ing for, but as a later round pick he brings some curious upside. The 49ers have enough question marks at wide receiver that even if they grab someone in free agency or in the first or second round, it would not be surprising to see them grab a second receiver a bit later. If Jones drops a bit, maybe he ends up being that guy.
This video is from 2010 and may or may not be working here. You might have to go to YouTube to check it out.