Packers To Cut S Josh Jones

The Packers will be cutting safety Josh Jones today, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Jones skipped the club’s OTAs in the spring with the hope of forcing a trade, and his wish to get out of Green Bay has finally been granted.

The Packers selected Jones in the second round of the 2017 draft, and he has started 12 games over his first two years in the league. He seemed to take a step back during his sophomore season, finishing with 55 tackles, one sack, and two passes defensed in 13 games (five starts) in 2018. Pro Football Focus ended up ranking Jones 70th among 93 eligible safeties.

Green Bay invested heavily in the safety position this offseason, as the team inked former Bears safety Adrian Amos to a four-year, $36MM deal in free agency and later traded up in the first round to select Maryland safety Darnell Savage Jr.. As Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com writes, Amos and Savage are expected to serve as the Packers’ starting safeties in 2019, and former UDFA Raven Greene has worked ahead of Jones both at safety and at inside linebacker in sub-packages during training camp.

Demovsky also notes that Jones has not practiced in nearly two weeks because of an undisclosed illness, and he got kicked out of practice on July 31 for a hit and a fight during a non-tackling period. Plus, even though the Packers traded Ha Ha Clinton-Dix halfway though last season, Jones was not elevated into the starting lineup until rookie Kentrell Brice suffered an ankle injury in Week 10.

Clearly, Jones’ stock had plummeted in Green Bay, though he should catch on with another club fairly quickly given his youth and draft pedigree.

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