J’Terius Jones got a long look against the Dolphins and excelled

J’Terius Jones was one of the undrafted free agents we profiled about a week ago, and for good reason. While the defensive end position is stacked, Jones can play a little end and a little linebacker, and he had done quite well in camp up until that point.

Then the first preseason game arrived, and Jones was a force to be reckoned with whilst leading the defense in snaps played. That’s no mean feat for a UDFA, even in preseason.

Jones got in the game fairly early and ultimately added pressures, a quarterback hit on a failed two point conversion, and even a spot of impressive coverage at one point. You can’t read too much into a preseason game, sure, but Jones got more snaps than any other Falcons defender and did quality work with them. I’m positive that long look was not an accident.

Jones is still probably ticketed for practice squad duties when the dust clears, but like DJ Tialavea and Marvin Hall, impressive performances in the coming preseason games might change the calculus here. Jones is one of the few UDFAs I think could ultimately hold on, and one or two more games like this will certainly help.

Sill. It’s obvious the Falcons have managed to pull together some quality young talent this offseason, and the crazy part is that they might all fail to make the 53 man roster.