This is an important season for veteran cornerback Marcus Jones as he enters the final year of his contract with the Patriots. Although he’s a dynamic playmaker in all three phases of the game, Jones has an injury history that made him unavailable during his time in New England.
With the framework of the offseason under new head coach Mike Vrabel, Jones is on the fence about not being with the team after this season. There’s a chance that he could be traded if we’re following Vrabel’s trend of the offseason, with Vrabel wanting certain players on his team.
That said, Vrabel already signed a cornerback in free agency, bringing in veteran Carlton Davis, who is one of the top man-to-man corners in the NFL, to play parallel to All-Pro Christian Gonzalez. Although Jones was the starting slot cornerback last year, Vrabel might be interested in a different style than what Jones offers while he’s in a contract year.
It’s hard to evaluate Jones on defense. We know what he can do as a receiver when utilized in an occasional play, and we know what he can do as a returner, but Jones has never completed a full season to know what a full body of work would look like.
In 2022, Jones was an All-Pro rookie who had an electric season in 15 games. In 2023, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in Week 2. He returned in 2024 as the starting slot corner, only playing in 14 games due to a hip injury that placed him on injured reserve.
In 2024, Jones had around the same amount of season totals as Gonzalez and Jonathon Jones. He finished with 58 total tackles, which was the same as Jonathon Jones and only one less than Gonzalez (59). For comparison, Marcus Jones played in two fewer games than Gonzalez and three fewer than Jonathon Jones.
It’s unfortunate that Jones has been sidelined due to injuries more often than not during his career with New England, but I think that’s what is concerning Vrabel the most.
Tracking some of the offseason trends from Vrabel, he waived David Andrews and didn’t retain Ja’Whaun Bentley, Deatrich Wise, Jonathon Jones, Davon Godchaux, or Daniel Ekuale on defense.
Jones is in the final year of a four-year contract that will pay him $1,410,947 in 2025 and will become an unrestricted free agent in 2026. This is a big year for him to show Vrabel what he can bring to the table while also trying to earn a larger financial deal for himself.
He can be an asset to any team, as he proved as a rookie, but he hasn’t shown it since. With all the injuries that he’s had since, making him more unavailable than not, Vrabel might just think he’s not worth it and move on when he can.