Josh Jones (born September 20, 1994) 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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

, and was selected by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in the second round of the

2017 NFL draft The 2017 NFL draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

. He has also played for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

and

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 ...

Early life

Jones attended

Southfield High School Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology is a State school#United States, public Education in the United States#High school (Grades 9 through 12), high school located in Southfield, Michigan. The school was founded in 1951. It serves ...

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Southfield borders Detroit to the north, roughly northwest of downtown Downtown Detroit, Detroit. As of the 2020 Uni ...

, for his freshman and sophomore years and then spent 11th and 12th grade at

Walled Lake Western High School Walled Lake Western High School (also known as "Walled Lake Western," "Western," or "WLW"), is a public high school of the Walled Lake Consolidated School District, located in Commerce Township, Michigan in Greater Detroit.

Walled Lake, Michigan Walled Lake is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A northwestern suburb of Detroit, Walled Lake is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 7,246. History The town ...

. He played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

. He committed to

NC State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina s ...

to play

College career

Jones played at NC State from 2013 to 2016. After redshirting in 2013, Jones saw his first action in 2014 and had 56

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

and four

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team bu ...

. As a sophomore, he had 64 tackles and one interception. As a junior, he led the team with 109 tackles and three interceptions. Jones entered the

after his junior season.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Scouts and representatives from 22 NFL teams attended North Carolina State's

Pro Day The NFL draft, officially known as the Annual Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the most common source of player recruitment in the National Football League. Each team is given a position in the drafting order in reve ...

to scout Jones, Matthew Dayes, Jack Tocho, and nine others. He completed the

short shuttle The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footb ...

, three-cone, and positional drills. At the NFL combine, Jones completed all the combine drills except short shuttle and three-cone. Jones attended private workouts and visits for ten different NFL teams, including the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team p ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

, and

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 ...

. NFL draft experts and analysts projected him to be a second round pick. He was ranked the third best

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

prospect available in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com, the sixth best

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, the seventh best safety by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

''.

Green Bay Packers

2017

The

selected Jones in the second round, 61st overall, of the 2017 NFL Draft. Jones was the ninth safety drafted in 2017. On May 19, 2017, the Packers signed Jones to a four-year, $4.23 million contract that included a signing bonus of $1.21 million. Jones was the backup strong safety to starter

Morgan Burnett Morgan Mark Burnett (born January 13, 1989) is an American former professional American football, football Safety (gridiron football position), safety. He played college football at Georgia Tech and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the t ...

throughout

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events ...

and to begin the regular season. He made his professional regular season debut in the season opener against the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

and made one solo tackle during Green Bay's 17–9 victory. On September 24, 2017, Jones earned his first career start and collected a season-high 12 combined tackles (11 solo) while twice sacking

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

quarterback

Andy Dalton Andrew Gregory Dalton (born October 29, 1987) is an American professional football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "the Red Rifle", he played college football for the TCU Horned Frogs, wher ...

during a 27–24 overtime victory. On December 10, 2017, Jones had one solo tackle, a season-high three pass deflections, his first career interception during a 27–21 victory against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

in Week 14. He finished his rookie season in with 71 combined tackles (60 solo), five pass deflections, two sacks, and one interception in 16 games and seven starts.

2018

Jones entered training camp slated as the starting strong safety after the role was left vacant by the departure of Burnett during free agency. Jones saw competition for the role from Kentrell Brice. Head coach

Mike McCarthy Michael John McCarthy (born November 10, 1963) is an American professional American football, football coach who most recently was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) from 2020 Dallas Cowboys season, 2020 t ...

named Jones the backup strong safety, behind Kentrell Brice, to begin the regular season. Jones was inactive for the first three games (Weeks 1–3) after sustaining an ankle injury during practice. On December 2, 2018, the Packers fired McCarthy after they fell to a 4–7–1 record. Jones became the starting strong safety in Week 14 and held the position for the remainder of the season. In Week 16, he collected a season-high 12 combined tackles (six solo) and deflected a pass during a 44–38 win at the

. He finished the season with 56 combined tackles (40 solo), two pass deflections, and one sack in 13 games and five starts. Jones was waived with a non-football illness designation on August 25, 2019.

Dallas Cowboys

On October 2, 2019, Jones was signed to the

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

of the

. He was promoted to the active roster on November 16, 2019. He was waived on December 28, 2019.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On December 31, 2019, Jones was claimed off waivers by the

. Jones was named the Jaguars starting strong safety to begin the 2020 season. In Week 5 of the 2020 season against the

, Jones was ejected after initiating a helmet to helmet hit on wide receiver

Brandin Cooks Brandin Tawan Cooks (born September 25, 1993) is an American professional football wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Oregon State Beavers, earning consensus All-Am ...

. He was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on November 14, 2020, with a chest injury. He was activated on December 5, 2020. In Week 15 against the

, Jones recorded his first interception as a Jaguar off a pass thrown by

Lamar Jackson Lamar Demeatrice Jackson Jr. (born January 7, 1997) is an American professional football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals, winning the Heisman T ...

during the 40–14 loss. Jones re-signed with the Jaguars on March 29, 2021. He was released on August 31, 2021.

Indianapolis Colts

On October 20, 2021, Jones was signed to the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster on November 1. He was waived on December 4.

Seattle Seahawks

On December 15, 2021, Jones was signed to the

practice squad. He re-signed with the team on May 3, 2022. He made the Seahawks roster as the third safety behind

Quandre Diggs Quandre Diggs (born January 22, 1993) is an American professional football safety. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, and was selected by the Detroit Lions in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL draft. He played his first two years ...

and

Ryan Neal Ryan Christopher Neal (born December 24, 1995) is an American professional football safety. He played college football for the Southern Illinois Salukis, and has been a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks, and Ta ...

. He suffered a hamstring injury in Week 13 and was placed on injured reserve on December 6, 2022.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

NC State Wolfpack football bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Josh Living people 1994 births People from Walled Lake, Michigan Players of American football from Oakland County, Michigan Players of American football from Chicago American football safeties NC State Wolfpack football players Green Bay Packers players Dallas Cowboys players Jacksonville Jaguars players Indianapolis Colts players Seattle Seahawks players