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RB Kevin Jones, Detroit Lions

HT: 5-11, WT: 221, Born: 8-21-1982, College: Virginia Tech, Drafted: Round 1, Pick 30

2008 Projections

2007 Game Summaries

Week 3 - Jones made a triumphant return to the field this week after missing the first two games of the season, by scoring on a two yard run on his very first carry of the game. That would be his only highlight of the game as he only had three carries for five yards in the game. He did not get a lot of playing time, but looked healthy in his limited action.

Week 4 - Jones gained 38 yards on ten carries although 22 yards came on one run. He scored his second touchdown in his second week back from his foot injury, and it appears that the Lion offense will become more balanced as he works his way back into a feature role Mike Martz' game plan. After the TD, Jones leaped up on the endzone wall and climbed into the arms of the fans.

Week 5 - Jones didn't play at all in the first half, but was the central figure of the offense in the second half, carrying the ball 11 times for 48 yards and catching two passes for 17 yards. Jones may have been a viable offensive force if he had been allowed to play the entire game.

Week 7 - All week, we heard about how the Lions wanted to focus more on the running game. Specifically, we heard that they wanted to make Kevin Jones a big focus of it. After Detroit's first two possessions, it was obvious that they were serious about it. Jones carried the ball on the first four plays of the game for the Lions, and on seven of the first nine (including his third touchdown of the season, this one from a yard out). He finished up averaging over five yards per carry, and was the team's leading receiver with six catches. He looked to be healthy, and was very shifty and elusive in the hole. He had no problems getting open in the flat or over the middle on short dump-offs, and caught everything he could get his hands on.

Week 8 - Jones had his first 100 yard rushing game of the year in this contest. He started off strong taking his first carry of the game 13 yards for a first down. But he would only gain one more yard on four more carries in the first quarter. Jones looked good early on when given some room to run and broke a nice 19 yard run up the middle of the field in the second quarter. The Lions did a pretty good in the second quarter opening holes for Jones. He was able to get a four yard touchdown run late in the first half on draw play up the middle.

Jones would have a couple of opportunities on the Bears one yard line to punch it in late in the third quarter, but Chicago stopped him both times. He broke his longest run of the game in the fourth quarter for 34 yard run in which he broke several tackles. He did have the ball punched out of his hands for a costly fumble in the forth quarter. He added two catches for ten yards to go along with 105 rushing yards.

Week 9 - Jones was the focus of Detroit's first possession. He delivered 32 yards on six carries on the drive. Jones found ample running room and was usually through the hole before being touched. Surprisingly, Jones had only eleven more attempts for the remainder of the game.

Jones had only one reception for five yards. He was targeted a couple of other times on down the seams of the defense. Kitna led him just a little too much on each occasion. Had the passes been completed, they would have resulted in big gains.

Week 10 - Jones had a horrible rushing game due to playing catch up. He rushed only four times, but did score in the first quarter on a four yard run. He caught eight balls for 36 yards, when Kitna used him as a safety valve.

Week 11 - Jones was only able to accumulate 25 yards rushing while adding three receptions for 12 yards. He was clearly bottled up all day by the Giants front four and did not see many chances in the second half as the Lions took to the air for most of their offense.

Week 12 - After two of the worst games of his career the past two weeks, Jones had one of his best in a losing effort. Typically, when a team trails pretty much throughout the contest, it's tough for the running back of the losing team to get into a good rhythm. But Jones did just that. He averaged nearly five yards per carry, and had a lot of good, tough runs both inside and to the outside. As far as the role Jones has within the offense, T.J. Duckett got a good number of carries early on. But Jones soon got into the flow of the game and garnered nearly all of the remaining rushes. Perhaps the most important aspect was that Jones remained in the game on a goal line carry late in the fourth quarter, and even more importantly is the fact that he scored on the play. It was a simple run off left tackle and he was completely untouched on the play so it's not as if the run was overly impressive, but results are results. About the only thing that could be seen as a negative for Jones was the success Aveion Cason had as a receiver out of the backfield. His four receptions for 58 yards went a long way in sustaining drives for Detroit, and those are yards that Jones didn't get. On the plus side, having another receiving option out of the backfield isn't necessarily a bad thing to decrease Jones's workload ever so slightly. After all, he still did manage two receptions for 27 yards so it's not as if he was a forgotten man.

Week 13 - Jones has never had much success against the Vikings, and that trend continued in week 13. He only had three chances to run the ball, and ran for four, zero, and negative three yards. He did catch all three of his targets, but he was not a factor all game. T. J. Duckett outrushed Kevin Jones with three carries in garbage time trying to run out the clock.

Week 14 - When Kevin Jones is healthy he is a very effective running back. The offensive line was able to open holes in the middle of the line and Jones took advantage by running hard. It appears that, if healthy and involved, the Lions have an effective rushing attack with him seeing a majority of carries. He is hard to bring down with just one man and does not give up until well after the play is blown dead. His determination was most evident on the second touchdown when he refused to be stopped on third and goal from the three.

Week 15 - A lot of people are going to take a look at the stat sheet, see that Kevin Jones only ran the ball five times, and assume that Mike Martz called a horrible game. While it's true that the Lions started throwing it around the field a bit earlier than some may have liked, the fact of the matter is that the Lions probably wouldn't have run the ball all that much even if they had LaDainian Tomlinson in their backfield. The Chargers simply flew out of the gate and put up 17 points before anyone could blink, and the Lions were forced to throw it early and often. A common mistake amongst fantasy owners is to question why a team wouldn't run the ball in order to win. But the more likely occurrence is that a team starts to win, and that enables them to run the ball. Otherwise, every team would run the ball their first thirty plays because the stats say when you run it thirty or more times, you almost always win. But the truth is, the score dictates how often you run, not the other way around. Never was this more evident than in this game. The Lions appeared to want to run it with Jones, but the awful defense wouldn't allow that to happen.

As for Jones' performance, it's tough to call six total touches a performance. The biggest play involving Jones was on a pass to him out of the backfield late in the game. Before he had time to turn around and get upfield, CB Drayton Florence was on him with a vicious hit that seemed as if it could be a season-ender. Not only did it not end Jones' season; it didn't even knock him from the game. He bounced up a few moments later, and despite looking dazed on the sideline, he eventually would return to the game. We'll let you know if this is anything to concern yourself with during the week.

Week 16 - Kevin Jones was unable to break free against the Chiefs defense. He had only 15 yards on eight carries. Unfortunately, he was injured on the next to last play of the first half, a meaningless rushing attempt with time running out. It was reported as a right knee injury.