Young NFL breakout candidates for 2024: Patriots CB Marcus Jones
There were multiple secondary options to choose from for the New England Patriots in 2022 but they went with Marcus Jones. However, I thought last year’s first-round pick Christian Gonzalez already looked like he was about to turn himself into one of the top-tier cover corners in the league before an injured labrum in his shoulder cut his debut season short a month in. So instead, I’m looking at one of the corners they selected in the prior draft.
Marcus Jones’ collegiate career started at Troy in 2017 as a fairly unknown name, who actually put himself on the map as an All-American kick returner. He entered the national spotlight in his redshirt senior campaign, once he had transferred to Houston, when along with four return TDs, he also picked off five passes and broke up another 13, in order to repeat those honors – only on defense this time around.
As a rookie, Marcus Jones' biggest moment certainly was a walk-off score on a punt return in a game that was tied 3-3 and lacking any type of offense, as he ripped out the hearts of Jets fans hoping to finally stand up to their bully in the Patriots.
With that being said, Jones also recorded 39 tackles, two interceptions and seven more PBUs that year. Unfortunately, it didn’t even take two full games in 2023 before he actually tore his labrum and he wasn’t able to put up any ball production across 44 snaps (five tackles).
Looking at where he’s been deployed so far in his short career, Marcus Jones did play 76% of snaps on the outside as a rookie, but he also logged 88 snaps between the slot and box. Last year, the split across a smaller sample size was pretty similar (32 outside, 11 in the slot).
So with Gonzo having shown the capability of being a true number one corner and Jonathan Jones as a reliable second starter on the outside, the expectation is for Marcus Jones to compete and probably win the starting gig in the slot.
Why Patriots' Marcus Jones could have a breakout season in 2024
Going back to his rookie season, 24 of 41 targets for Marcus Jones were completed for 361 yards and a touchdown, but he also picked off two balls and broke up another seven himself. Yet, when you sort by the numbers in man-coverage, the work he did becomes even more impressive.
Marcus Jones allowed less than a yard per snap in those situations (4-of-10 for 67 yards on 77 such snaps) for an abysmal passer rating of just 23.8. Re-familiarizing with his tape, I saw him play boundary corner and wall off more physical X receivers in press, with a safety clouding to his side, line up in the slot and carry someone up the hash 30+ yards down the field, as well as fall off routes and make plays as a zone-defender.
Jones is quick to ID route combinations and anticipate the break of the outside receiver as he sees what is happening in the slot. He rapidly closes the gap to guys breaking off routes in front of him in off assignments. In particular, the way he can transition out of a half- or three-quarter-turn and contest a receiver snapping of a route in front of him, really pops off the screen.
Marcus Jones also showcases the smarts to make plays off his landmarks and break up/knock down passes up the seams in cover three for example. At the same time, you’ll see him stay down initially against patterns that put a high-low stretch on him, such as “smash” or “bench”, yet fly underneath something like a corner route coming in behind him.
His vision comes into play when he’s sinking with a vertical pusher outside but sees a sail route breaking towards the sideline or a receiver crossing the field from the opposite side. There’s a play in their week 14 game at Arizona, where the Cardinals are trying to run off the then-rookie corner, yet he plants his feet and de-cleats tight-end Trey McBride on a deep out, who has a good 60 pounds on him. And he has excellent hands, which he’s shown on multiple interceptions extending his arms away from his body.
The level of physicality this young man displays is something I fell in love with at Houston, where his football IQ did lead to him getting his hands on a bunch of passes when playing zone. Yet, you’d regularly see him challenging bigger receivers in press alignment, taking away breathing space for them. Plus, then he has the oily hips to flip and run with guys, having the long speed to not lose those footraces typically. His lack of length does show up when he’s in trail position and tries to play through the pocket of the intended target, but can’t quite disrupt the catch-point. And without lesser room for error, his technique when targeted on back-shoulder fades will have to be that much better. Yet, I felt like his understanding for leverage and positioning during the route stood out in a positive sense on a regular basis. That level of competitiveness and physicality also show up as a tackler. Depending on source, Jones only missed two or three of 46/47 attempted stops, where his natural leverage advantage does help, but he doesn’t simply dive at the feet of bigger opponents like you’d see from a bunch of other undersized DBs, but rather launch himself into the lower body of ball-carriers, to stop their momentum. Jones is sudden to navigate around blockers. And because he’s built so low and plays so scrappy, you see him fight through one half of opponents regularly, instead of getting hung up with bigger receivers. He will gamble and jump inside of receivers trying to block him on the edge. And when opponents do “win” the initial phase of contact, at 185 pounds with 29-inch arms, he’ll at least have to work overtime if he wants to disengage from guys and get involved on the stop.
All in all, while Marcus Jones may turn 26 years old midway through this upcoming season, this is a defensive back with limited experience but quality tape and production against NFL competition so far. Jones has already been trusted with responsibilities inside and out in a defensive system formerly under Bill Belichick, which tried to simplify rules for their guys on the back-end but did add in creative wrinkles on certain downs to throw off their opponents.
Now with Jerod Mayo taking over head-coaching duties along with calling plays for that unit, we’ll see what kind of impact the legendary mind still had. Last season, the Patriots finished as the number eight defense in EPA per play despite also having the highest number of “adjusted games lost to injury” on that side of the ball (63.8), including Marcus Jones’ absence.
After being forced to be a little more zone-heavy recently due to lacking the horses (in part due to injuries) to play man across the board extensively, it seems Marcus Jones may be put in more isolated situations on the inside – and I think he’s up for the challenge.
There’s no more Myles Bryant on the Patriots, who played about three quarters of snaps in the two games Marcus Jones was available for last season. Otherwise, Shaun Wade is someone they traded a late-round pick for three years ago from Baltimore before even playing a single pro snap, yet has been a fringe roster candidate I’d say pushed into playing time last season, and similarly they picked up Alex Austin once the Texans released him two months into the season. So it’s pretty clear who should be the favorite in line for this starting nickel job.