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Jones hoping for brighter days ahead with Rams
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_6b75335c-fde7-54c4-a19f-fba46a35d736.html
There was a time, however fleeting, at the start of Rams training camp when it looked like Barrett Jones might compete for a staring job at either center or guard.
But as his second NFL season winds down, the former Alabama star has yet to make an impact on the pro level. Back issues led to surgery in early August this summer, with Jones missing all of the preseason schedule as well as the first five games of the regular season.
Since then, Jones has played in seven of nine Rams games but in a cameo role. Entering Sunday’s home finale against the New York Giants, Jones has participated in 33 special teams plays and just 23 plays on offense.
Those 23 plays at center all came in the Oct. 26 game at Kansas City when starter Scott Wells went out with an elbow injury. They represent Jones’ only plays from scrimmage since being drafted in the fourth round (No. 113 overall) out of Alabama.
As a rookie in 2013, foot surgery stemming from an Alabama injury limited him to three games at the end of the season and 11 special teams snaps on the extra point/field goal team.
Even so, Jones is wrapping up this season in good spirits and with high hopes for the 2015 campaign.
“I’ve learned a lot, grown a lot as a player,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll finish up this year strong and have a great season next year.”
Jones didn’t miss much time at Alabama because of injury, so he’s hoping the back surgery on the heels of the foot surgery was merely bad luck and not a trend.
“It’s a miserable, miserable feeling not practicing,” Jones said. “Especially when you’re an active guy. A lot of us are. You want to be out there with your
teammates sweating, so it’s tough to stand there on the sidelines and watch and get stiff.”
For rookies and younger players, missing any kind of offseason or training camp time can derail a season. It’s simply too hard to catch up once you miss that much valuable practice time.
As a rookie, Jones volunteered to work out with the practice squad on Saturdays most of the year in an effort to counter some of that inactivity.
“I just figured, I’m inactive anyway on game day, so I might as well show up on Saturdays and work out. I just wanted to get better.”
One of his main goals going into last offseason was to get bigger and stronger. The results showed, and as he entered the 2014 training camp he was getting positive feedback from the coaches about the improvement he had made.
But then came the back issue, the origin of which was unclear to Jones.
“It wasn’t really a specific thing,” he said. “Just kind of something that developed over time.”
The injury and resulting surgery, “definitely set me back a lot,” Jones said.
He couldn’t do any weight training for a couple of months following the surgery, so he lost some of the weight and strength he had worked hard to add over the offseason.
“So that was frustrating,” Jones said. “I feel like I lost some ground there. I’m definitely starting to get it back; starting to get close to feeling like I was.”
When the regular season ends in 12 days, Jones will return to his hometown in Memphis and attack the offseason with his personal trainer.
“Hopefully I can have that same kind of offseason and training camp next year where I can be noticed as a player that’s really improved,” he said. “Hopefully that’s the case, and hopefully I can start next year. That’s my goal.
“This is obviously a huge offseason for me. This is a big kind of defining moment. So I’m gonna just really tear it up this offseason. Work extremely hard. And just kinda make it a goal to just get better in every area. Get stronger. Get faster. Get my body back to where it needs to be.”
Exactly where that potential starting position is on the offensive line remains a mystery. Remember, Jones started two years at right guard, one year at left tackle, and one year at center at Alabama.
He’s been thought of as more of a center/guard prospect in the NFL, but for much of the second half of this season he has been working out at right tackle with the second-team offense and the scout team.
“I think after Jake (Long) went down, we realized that we really didn’t have another tackle,” Jones said. “Obviously, Mike Person is a guy that can play both guard and tackle.
“Rodger (Saffold)’s played tackle before. But we have a lot of inside guys, and they wanted to kind of try me at tackle just in case we had another situation where a lot of guys got hurt in games like Kansas City.”
Jones said he likes playing center the most. But adds: “I’ll play wherever they put me. Wherever I can get on the field — that’s my favorite.”
A three-time All-American at Alabama, Jones won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center as a senior in 2012. After his junior season, he won the Outland Trophy, which recognizes the nation’s top interior lineman.
With that kind of résumé and experience Jones is the first to admit he expected to be further along in his pro career at this point.
“I did,” he said. “But there was a little curveball here and there. But God’s got a plan for my life. I feel really good about where I am in this organization. I really like it here and love the coaching staff. I really, really want to have success here.”
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_6b75335c-fde7-54c4-a19f-fba46a35d736.html
There was a time, however fleeting, at the start of Rams training camp when it looked like Barrett Jones might compete for a staring job at either center or guard.
But as his second NFL season winds down, the former Alabama star has yet to make an impact on the pro level. Back issues led to surgery in early August this summer, with Jones missing all of the preseason schedule as well as the first five games of the regular season.
Since then, Jones has played in seven of nine Rams games but in a cameo role. Entering Sunday’s home finale against the New York Giants, Jones has participated in 33 special teams plays and just 23 plays on offense.
Those 23 plays at center all came in the Oct. 26 game at Kansas City when starter Scott Wells went out with an elbow injury. They represent Jones’ only plays from scrimmage since being drafted in the fourth round (No. 113 overall) out of Alabama.
As a rookie in 2013, foot surgery stemming from an Alabama injury limited him to three games at the end of the season and 11 special teams snaps on the extra point/field goal team.
Even so, Jones is wrapping up this season in good spirits and with high hopes for the 2015 campaign.
“I’ve learned a lot, grown a lot as a player,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll finish up this year strong and have a great season next year.”
Jones didn’t miss much time at Alabama because of injury, so he’s hoping the back surgery on the heels of the foot surgery was merely bad luck and not a trend.
“It’s a miserable, miserable feeling not practicing,” Jones said. “Especially when you’re an active guy. A lot of us are. You want to be out there with your
teammates sweating, so it’s tough to stand there on the sidelines and watch and get stiff.”
For rookies and younger players, missing any kind of offseason or training camp time can derail a season. It’s simply too hard to catch up once you miss that much valuable practice time.
As a rookie, Jones volunteered to work out with the practice squad on Saturdays most of the year in an effort to counter some of that inactivity.
“I just figured, I’m inactive anyway on game day, so I might as well show up on Saturdays and work out. I just wanted to get better.”
One of his main goals going into last offseason was to get bigger and stronger. The results showed, and as he entered the 2014 training camp he was getting positive feedback from the coaches about the improvement he had made.
But then came the back issue, the origin of which was unclear to Jones.
“It wasn’t really a specific thing,” he said. “Just kind of something that developed over time.”
The injury and resulting surgery, “definitely set me back a lot,” Jones said.
He couldn’t do any weight training for a couple of months following the surgery, so he lost some of the weight and strength he had worked hard to add over the offseason.
“So that was frustrating,” Jones said. “I feel like I lost some ground there. I’m definitely starting to get it back; starting to get close to feeling like I was.”
When the regular season ends in 12 days, Jones will return to his hometown in Memphis and attack the offseason with his personal trainer.
“Hopefully I can have that same kind of offseason and training camp next year where I can be noticed as a player that’s really improved,” he said. “Hopefully that’s the case, and hopefully I can start next year. That’s my goal.
“This is obviously a huge offseason for me. This is a big kind of defining moment. So I’m gonna just really tear it up this offseason. Work extremely hard. And just kinda make it a goal to just get better in every area. Get stronger. Get faster. Get my body back to where it needs to be.”
Exactly where that potential starting position is on the offensive line remains a mystery. Remember, Jones started two years at right guard, one year at left tackle, and one year at center at Alabama.
He’s been thought of as more of a center/guard prospect in the NFL, but for much of the second half of this season he has been working out at right tackle with the second-team offense and the scout team.
“I think after Jake (Long) went down, we realized that we really didn’t have another tackle,” Jones said. “Obviously, Mike Person is a guy that can play both guard and tackle.
“Rodger (Saffold)’s played tackle before. But we have a lot of inside guys, and they wanted to kind of try me at tackle just in case we had another situation where a lot of guys got hurt in games like Kansas City.”
Jones said he likes playing center the most. But adds: “I’ll play wherever they put me. Wherever I can get on the field — that’s my favorite.”
A three-time All-American at Alabama, Jones won the Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top center as a senior in 2012. After his junior season, he won the Outland Trophy, which recognizes the nation’s top interior lineman.
With that kind of résumé and experience Jones is the first to admit he expected to be further along in his pro career at this point.
“I did,” he said. “But there was a little curveball here and there. But God’s got a plan for my life. I feel really good about where I am in this organization. I really like it here and love the coaching staff. I really, really want to have success here.”