Former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Landry Jones is going from playing to coaching and teaching. Jones has been hired by the Tennessee Volunteers to serve as an offensive analyst, on3’s VolQuest reported late Wednesday night.
“Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel has found his replacement for the offensive analyst vacated by McKenzie Milton’s departure to Scott Frost’s staff at Central Florida,” Brent Hubbs wrote for the site. “Heupel is bringing in his former Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones.”
As Hubbs notes, Jones played under Heupel during his excellent college career at Oklahoma. There, Heupel served as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, molding Jones into a prolific passer. In four years with the Sooners, Jones put up gaudy numbers. More than 16,000 passing yards and 123 touchdowns to become and still remain the school’s all-time leader in completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns.
Jones was selected in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Steelers, becoming Ben Roethlisberger’s trusty backup. During his tenure, he appeared in 18 games, starting five of them and throwing for eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. While his numbers weren’t pretty, he got the job done and had a winning record as starter.
One of those starts led to his most memorable moment for only briefly being in the game. In a 2015 Week 10 game against the Cleveland Browns, Jones got the start ahead of an injured Ben Roethlisberger, who served as the team’s backup quarterback. But Jones himself was injured early in the game, giving way to Roethlisberger, who threw for 379-yards and three touchdowns in a 30-9 victory.
Roethlisberger later joked about a Browns player wishing they hadn’t hurt Jones and kept Roethlisberger on the bench.
After leaving Pittsburgh following the 2017 season, Jones bounced around the league and never appeared in another regular-season game. He spent time with the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Oakland Raiders, before becoming the first player to sign with the restarted XFL in 2019, spending a season with the Dallas Renegades.
Jones’ post-playing days have been quiet but it’s clear he has a desire to get into coaching. He’ll join a talented Tennessee squad with a high-tempo offense coming off a successful season, making the College Football Playoffs before falling to Ohio State in the first round.
