Next up in the prospect profiles is Safety Chad Jones.

Jones is a two sport athelte in college who is a fiery competitor (Despite  the above picture showing him incidentally holding onto the opponets behind while he fights for the ball)

I probably should wait for profile Chad Jones AFTER the combine becuase he’s one of those players who plays well on tape, but can ease a lot of scouts concerns with a good 40 time.

Chad Jones has questionable ELITE speed, he has good playing speed, but teams will want to know if he can hang with a speedy guy one on one who just runs down the seams a good 40 time could catapult Jones into the 1st round.

But there are a lot of mocks who think the Giants will end up with Jones in the 2nd round so I decided to post it now.

Keep in mind that I do these profiles for you guys, but also for discussion so if you like what you’re reading or don’t leave a comment, that’s what it’s all about. Good Giants football discussions.

I’ll try to respond to all comments.

Enjoy.

Pro Draft Party Video

Chad Jones

Measurables

Born October 5th, 1988. 6′3 231 pounds. Junior.

Stats

Career (3 seasons) 157 tackles, 3 FF, 5 INT.

2009: 73 tackles, 1 FF, 3 INT, 1 Punt Return Touchdown.

Big games: Vs Louisina Lafayette 4 tackles, 2 INT.

@ Mississippi State 7 tackles

vs Florida 12 tackles.

@ Alabama 4 tackles, 1 pass defensed.

Penn State (Bowl game) 8 tackles, 1 pass defensed.

Chad Jones was pretty productive this year. 3 INT was the most in his career, and he had his best games in the most important games, which is a Great trait to have.

He really showed up against the good competition in three games between Alabama, Florida, and Penn State he had 24 tackles and 2 passes defensed.

That’s good.

Scouting Reports:

Football Fan Spot

1/23/10: The top strong safety in this draft class, he hits like a linebacker at 6-3 235, but also has experience starting at cornerback for a National Championship team as a freshman so you know his coverage skills are at least decent. He doesn’t have Taylor Mays’ measureables, particularly great timed speed, but he is a better strong safety prospect than Mays and should be drafted first, though I doubt he will be.

12/26/09: Taylor Mays gets all of the hype with the safety position because of his excellent triangle numbers, height, weight, 40 time, and his big flying hits and just the overall fact that he goes to USC. However, Chad Jones is the better safety prospect and after reviewing some more game footage, my next Big Board will reflect that. Jones is actually bigger than Mays, 6-3 232. He has linebacker size and freakish athleticism and hits like a ton of bricks, but he’s also more fundamentally sound than Mays. He actually wraps up his tackles and plays a ton more controlled. His route to the ball carrier is better than Mays’ but still needs some improvement but with his size and explosion, he really is another linebacker up there on run plays and would be an excellent fit for a 3-4 defense. He plays the pass better than Mays as well and actually has 14 starts at cornerback as a freshman on the LSU National Championship team before moving to free safety for the last two years. His ability to play cornerback, plus his skills as a baseball pitcher, show his freakish athleticism. He also played running back in High School. Athleticism runs in his blood as well. His cousin Rahim Alem also plays on the LSU football team and is considered a late round prospect as a defensive end or rush linebacker. He doesn’t have Mays’ timed speed or upside, but he moves well for his size with a projected low 4.5 40. He can do everything you’d expect out of a strong safety in the NFL. He can patrol a zone, he can make a play on the ball, muscle around a receiver, or man up a tight end, and he can also rush the passer on blitzes something I’ve seen him do very effectively. His hands need a bit of improvement, but that’s not extremely important for his position and he did improve his interception total to 3 this year and is showing off some of his running back skills with 23.7 yards per interception return. His backpedal is a bit sluggish, which is probably part of the reason he’s no longer a cornerback. He’s well coached as part of a strong conservative defense at LSU that has a history of making good NFL defenders, especially safeties. He has about 2 and a half years of starting experience, 1 and a half at safety, and a year at cornerback so the experience is there. The production over those years has been pretty good as well. I think because of his size he’s best suited to be a strong safety in the NFL, but he can also play some free safety with good success and that actually is his primary position in college. His stance on whether or not to declare for the 2010 draft at this point is unknown, but should he declare, once he performs at the combine and in individual workouts and his pro day, he should shoot up into the first round range where he belongs. He has Pro Bowl caliber upside at the next level.

NFL Comparison: Adrian Wilson

GanggreenNation.com

Career Stats

2007- 14 games played, 34 tackles, 4 passes broken up, 2 sacks, 1 interception

2008- 13 games played, 50 tackles, 6 passes broken up, 0 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 1 interceptions

2009- 13 games played, 74 tackles, 6 passes broken up, 1 forced fumble, 3 interceptions

Career Achievements & Awards

2009 Second Team All SEC (AP)

2009 Second Team All SEC (Coaches)

Walter Camp, National Defensive Player of the Week (September 2009)

2009 NCAA College World Series Champion

More after the jump:

So what does Chad Jones do well?

Has excellent size and strength, stands at 6′3 and weighs 231lb’s. Is a big game player, some of his best games have come on the biggest stage against some of the better teams. Knocked down the final pass against Florida to win the game for LSU, Sacked and forced a fumble v Alabama in 2007 to set up the game winning drive. Is excellent in coverage which likely comes as a result of him playing corner for LSU in 2007. Will hit like a ton of bricks, and players will think twice about coming over the middle. Also goes up and contests passes. Can be used up at the line like a linebacker, and either stay up and play the run or drop and play coverage and teams won’t miss a beat. Is a very controlled safety who wraps up his tackles in the open field. Has versatility on defence, he can play zone, man up with a tight end, rush the passer or play the spy on players coming out of the backfield. Takes good routes to the ball.Comes from a defensive system with LSU.

So what does Chad Jones need to improve on?

Only has two years worth of starts at the safety position, even though he is a three year starter. Takes good routes to the ball but there is room for improvement. His back-pedal is suspect and needs to be less physical down the field or might get in penalty trouble at the next level. Doesn’t have the best speed, and has to play his coverage spot on as doesn’t necessarily have the ‘elite’ range for the free safety position. Could make more plays on the ball, needs to continue to improve this like he did between 2008 and 2009.

Final Word

Safety is not really a position of need for us, much like Dan Williams. If he fell to us in the second round, I would find it hard to criticise the pick as best player available, as he has first round talent. I like his athleticism, and he generally has a good skill set for the safety position. I’m thinking that if he has a good combine and pro day like I expect he will, he could creep into the very late stages of the first or more likely the early second round area. Whoever does pick him up is getting a great athlete, who plays his heart out every snap, and is dedicated to getting better. Wish him the best of luck, just don’t think we need to go to that position with early selections. If he did happen to somehow fall to us in the 2nd and we took him, you wouldn’t hear any complaints from me.

Sideline Scouting.com

Strengths:
-Excels in the box, pursues like a Linebacker, sheds blocks well and wraps up well to make tackles
-Very good athletic ability, is also a pitcher for the Tigers baseball team
-Has some experience starting in the box as a fourth Linebacker for LSU
-Runs well with prototypical size, has good initial quickness
-Sure tackler, hits hard, definitely strikes fear in receivers across the middle
-Return experience (although not utilized there last season), took some punt returns in 2007 and 2008
-Intense player still developing his overall talent, has a ton of upside

Weaknesses:
-Needs to improve ball skills, has never been overly productive (5 interceptions in three seasons), does not time his leaps well
-Despite being a center-field safety, does not have great range and can be late to the ball
-Struggles in the back pedal, does not have fluid hips
-Can be beat downfield when faster receivers hit top speed
-Needs to improve in man-to-man coverage

Where the Mocks Have him Falling (2.14.10)

Walterfootball.com 2nd round #46 pick (Giants)

Matt Mcguire (contributor to walterfootball.com) 2nd round, #49th pick (49ers)

The Sports Bank.net 2nd round #46  pick (Giants)

Draftek.com 3rd round 68th pick (Chiefs)

NFLDraftsite.com 2nd Round, #46th pick (Giants)

Football fan Spot 2nd Round #46th pick (Giants)

The football expert 2nd round #49 (49ers)

BIG Board Rankings

Draft Board Insider.com 58th

Draftek.com 55th

Walterfootball.com 4th Best Safety

ESPN Scouts INC 49th

nflddraftspot.com 56th

Chad Jones Big Board Rankings is generally between the mid 30’s and the mid 50’s. Which means based stricly on board value he’s a early to mid to second round (the Giants picking in the middle of the second round are near the bottom end of his “value range”.

Bartolis Summary and Final Verdict

What have we learned about Chad Jones? 1) a lot of mock drafts, I mean there must be a lot becuase out of the 7 that I looked up 4 of mocks had him falling to the New York Giants which is pretty incredible considering that these mocks are in two rounds deep, which means there could be a lot of variation.

4 out of 7 for a player in the top 10 is not that suprising.

The question is are the fans right? Are the Giants intersted in Chad Jones…and should they be interested in Chad Jones?

This much you can be certain of…A) the Giants need Safety help, and B) Chad Jones is a very good athlete.

Chad Jones is a very good pitcher for a very good college football team…I wonder how much baseball might have detracted from Jones ability to workout in the college football off-season.  Perhaps with all of his time dedicated to football he could improve even more.

There is a lot to like about Chad Jones. Good athlete, hard worker, good competitor, and he shows up in the biggest games and plays his best when all the chips are on the table . That’s NOT something you can coach.

Bartolis Summary and Final Verdict

I think everyone reading this wants the Giants to come out of the 1st three rounds of the draft with a safety. I love Earl Thomas, some of us probably like Taylor mays. Everyone Loves Eric Berry (won’t fall that far) those are the three big safety names in the draft.

The hard part is figuring out who is the next best safety, and you’ll see that debated a lot heading up to the draft.

Is the 4th best safety LSU Chad Jones, USF Nate Allen, Georiga Tech’s Morgan Burnett,  Georgia’s Reshad Jones, Nebraska’s Larry Asante, Kansas Darrel Stuckey, FSU’s Myron Rolle, or Florida’s Major Wright?

(Profiles on ReShad Jones, Burnett, Myron Rolle, and Nate Allen coming soon)

THAT is the question.

I don’t know the answer to that question yet, but I’m working on it. A lot of people have Chad Jones as the #4 or even number 3 ahead of Taylor Mays at times.

What you LOVE about Chad Jones is that he’s a competitor and that he plays his best when everything is on the line. When your best games are in the National Championship game as a Freshman,and vs Florida, Alabama, and Penn State as a junior you know you have heart.

The other thing you like about Chad Jones is that he is a multi sport athlete so there is a good chance that with full dedication to football he could become a very good player.

As far as his play on the field, you like that he’s a smart player who can play the run and the pass well. What you don’t like is that even though he won’t get fooled and beat deep because he’s out of position he may just get beat by a guy like DeSean Jackson who could just out run Chad Jones down the field. And that even if Chad  Jones reads the pass well, gets a good jump and gets to where the ball is thrown he might not come away with the INT because he doesn’t play the ball that well when it’s in the air.

I like Chad Jones, I dont’ love him.

I think he could be a very good  versatile Strong Safety in this league, who can do more than just play up in the box, BUT he’s best at playing up in the box, and for the Giants unless you want to take Kenny Phillips and play him as a Free Safety Jones might not be the best selection for the Giants.

Good player, great competitor, and many people think that if he returned for his senior season Chad Jones could have gone in the first round next year so it would be good value.

Previous Profiles

OLB/DE Sergio Kindle

ILB Sean Lee

S Eric Berry

OT Bruce Campbell

ILB Daryl Washington

DT/NT Dan Williams (Updated with K.C. Joyner’s Draft Lab 2/7)

CB Kyle Wilson

DT Jared Odrick

DE Carlos Dunlap

ILB Micah Johnson

DT Arthur Jones

OT Bryan Baluga

OT Anthony Davis (UPDATED 2/5/10)

DT Brian Price

ILB Brandon Spikes

S Earl Thomas

ILB Rolando McClain

RB C.J. Spiller

S Taylor Mays

So…what do you guys think of Chad Jones?

Have a nice day, everyone.