Cayleb Jones (born March 21, 1993) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He played

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in 2012 and then went on to play for the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

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from 2013 to 2015. After no team selected him during the

2016 NFL draft The 2016 NFL draft was the 81st annual draft of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. As in 2015, the draft took place at the Auditorium Theatre and Grant Park in Chicago. The draft beg ...

, Jones signed with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

Early life

Born in Dallas but raised in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, Jones is the son of Robert Jones, who earned All-America honors and was a

Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

finalist at East Carolina and played 10 seasons in the NFL as a linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys (1992–95), St. Louis Rams (1996–97), Miami Dolphins (1998–2000) and Washington Redskins (2001). He is the older brother of

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

wide receiver Zay Jones and

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linebacker Vi Jones. He is also the nephew of

Jeff Blake Jeffrey Bertrand Coleman Blake (born December 4, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the East Carolina Pirates. Bl ...

, who played as a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

from 1988 to 1991 and finished seventh in the 1991 Heisman Trophy balloting and earned a Pro Bowl nod with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1995. Jones began playing football at the age of 5. He attended Austin High School, where he was an All-American, three-time all-state, three-time all-area and three-time all-district performer at wide receiver. Jones played in the ESPN Champion Gridiron Kings game prior to his senior season. In 2011, his senior season, Jones tallied 59 catches for 1,025 yards and nine touchdowns along with three more scores, one through the ground and the other two through the air, helping lead Austin to an appearance in the first round of the state playoffs. He was named second-team All-USA by ''

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'', first-team All-Centex by the

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, third-team All-State by the Texas Sports Writers Association and honorable mention All-State by the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

'' (AP). He also earned first-team All-District 15-5A honors at wide receiver and earned second-team honors as a returner. Jones recorded 213 receptions for 3,025 yards and 27

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

during his high school career. Following his senior season, Jones was invited to play in the 2012 Under Armour All-America Game. Jones also participated in

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during his senior season; at the SAS Relays on March 5, 2011, he placed second in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

with a leap and also earned a fourth-place finish in the

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with a time of 11.46 seconds. A member of ESPNU's top 150 national prospects, Jones was ranked as the 21st-best

and the 147th-best overall prospect in the nation by ESPNU. He was also ranked as the third-best overall prospect by the Sporting News. He was regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com. On February 27, 2011, Jones announced via Facebook his commitment to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

College career

In 2012, Jones transferred to the

, where he played

for the Arizona Wildcats Wildcats from 2012 to 2015. He appeared in 27 games, making 26 starts and finishing his Wildcats career with the 10th-most receiving yards (1,923) in school history with 1,926. He is also ranked tied-for-10th in career receptions with 129 and 12th in career receiving TDs with 14 in Arizona's record book. In 2014, Jones instantly became Arizona's most prolific receiver, catching 73 balls for 1,019 yards in his first year in

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...

' system.

Statistics

Professional career

Philadelphia Eagles

Jones signed with the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

on May 5, 2016. He was waived by the Eagles on September 3, 2016, as part of final roster cuts.

Minnesota Vikings

On December 27, 2016, the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

signed Jones to their practice squad. He signed a reserve/futures contract with the Vikings on January 2, 2017. On September 2, 2017, Jones was waived by the Vikings and was signed to the practice squad the next day. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Vikings on January 23, 2018. On April 30, 2018, Jones was suspended the first four games of the 2018 season for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances. He was waived on August 31, 2018. Jones was suspended the first six weeks of the 2019 season on August 30, 2019, for violating the league's policy on

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

stemming from an August 2018 arrest. He was reinstated from suspension on October 15, 2019.

References

External links

*
Arizona Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Cayleb 1993 births Living people Players of American football from Austin, Texas American football wide receivers Arizona Wildcats football players Philadelphia Eagles players Minnesota Vikings players Texas Longhorns football players