James Jones may as well be doing his Rodney Dangerfield impression right now. He’s getting no respect.
Early on in free agency, the Detroit Lions and New York Jets were supposedly interested in Jones. They ended up signing other receivers. Golden Taint and Eric Decker, to be exact.
And since then… crickets. As far as we know, Jones hasn’t even visited a team since free agency began.
Now he’s literally begging for a job. Over the weekend, Jones was forced to publicly state how much he’d like to play with Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.
Why?
Because last year’s NFC South champs have been gutted at receiver. They released Steve Smith, lost Brandon LaFell to the Patriots and Ted Ginn to the Cardinals.
Who do they have left to line up out wide? We couldn’t even tell you and we’re guessing neither could they. So clearly Carolina has an opening for a receiver and therefore Jones had to remind them that he’s still available.
Whether they sign him or not is another story.
What we don’t get is why no one is interested in Jones. This happened the last time he was a free agent in 2011 too. That eventually led him back to the Packers and a bargain of a deal (for the Packers).
The difference this time around is Jones has gone from mistake-prone deep threat to reliable playmaker. He led the NFL in touchdown catches in 2012. He had all of two drops in 2013 while setting a career high in receiving yards. He’s a team-first guy who plays through injury.
And nobody, the Green Bay Packers included, want to give James Jones the time of day.
Something’s wrong here. Jones deserves better.