It’s pretty obvious that the decision made by the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of last week to claim veteran Jacoby Jones off waivers from the San Diego Chargers was based solely on the hope that he could help the team’s return game. Even so, Jones is willing to also play some wide receiver moving forward should the team need him to.
“Whatever they want me to do, I’m happy,” Jones said Wednesday morning, according to Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
While Jones certainly said the right thing, it would probably take quite a few injuries at the wide receiver position before he’s inserted on offense. Despite Jones’s experience playing the position throughout his career, one would think that rookie draft pick Sammie Coates would be a better option for the Steelers should it come down to that as he should have a better undemanding of the offense as the team enters Week 10 of the season.
Even though Jones played over 200 snaps on offense last season with the Baltimore Ravens, he only managed to catch 9 passes for 131 yards on his 18 total targets.
Being as Jones is regarded as merely a special teams player at this point of his career, he was asked Wednesday if he’s able to cover kickoffs or punts to further enhance his value to the Steelers.
“No, I can’t tackle to save my life,” he said.
Hey, at least he’s being honest.
Jones’s Sunday debut with the Steelers certainly left a lot to be desired as he returned four kickoffs against the Raiders for 83 yards in addition to two punts for 2 yards. While he’s sure to remain the team’s kickoff returner this coming Sunday in their home game against the Cleveland Browns, head coach Mike Tomlin wouldn’t commit to him returning any more punts as he also has the option of using wide receiver Antonio Brown.
“I’ll spin the dial and we’ll see which one we choose,” Tomlin said Tuesday.
