It looks like the Pittsburgh Steelers will have a new return man as the team has reportedly claimed wide receiver Jacoby Jones off waivers from the San Diego Chargers, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. To make room for Jones, the Steelers released second-year wide receiver/running back Dri Archer, who the team drafted last year in the third-round.
Jones, who was originally drafted by the Houston Texans in the third round of the 2007 NFL Draft, is probably best remembered for his playing days with the Baltimore Ravens. During his career, he’s caught 203 passes for 2,733 yards and 14 touchdowns. More importantly, Jones has returned 174 kickoffs for 4,720 yards and 5 touchdowns during his career in addition to returning 270 punts for 2,669 yards and another 4 touchdowns.
While with the Chargers this season, Jones returned 9 kickoffs for 193 yards with a long of 30. He also returned 5 punts for -4 yards.
Steelers fans will also remember Jones as the player who head coach Mike Tomlin seemingly got in the way of during a 2013 Thanksgiving night game against the Baltimore Ravens. Tomlin said after that game that he drifted on the field of play while watching Jones return the kickoff on the big screen in M&T Bank Stadium. The head coach was later fined $100,000 by the league for the incident.
Jones will wear No. 15 for the Steelers.
As for Archer, he never became the kick returner for the Steelers that he was in college. During his one and a half seasons in Pittsburgh, the Kent State product returned 23 kickoffs for 515 yards and no touchdowns with a long of 38.
