Former Browns Wide Receiver Passes Away at 82

Homer Jones spent the 1970 season with the Cleveland Browns. Jones passed away yesterday at the age of 82.

Brandon Little | Jun 15, 2023

Former Browns Wide Receiver Passes Away at 82 /

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We often see the football being spiked after a touchdown, for the Cleveland Browns, it’s David Njoku who now leads the way doing it. The originator of the spike following a touchdown passed away yesterday after a battle with lung cancer, multiple reports indicate.

Homer Jones spent the last season of his career with the Browns in 1970, he has one return touchdown that season and 141 yards receiving.

Up to that point, Jones was a two-time Pro Bowl recipient in the six years he spent with the New York Giants. As a wide receiver, Jones eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark three times in his career and ended with 4,986 receiving yards. He didn’t play in the league past age 29.

After a touchdown to start his 1965 season, Jones created the celebration that is still used today.

"I was fixing to throw it into the grandstand," Jones said to ESPN in 2015. "But just as I was raising my arm, the reality snapped into my head. (NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle) would have fined me. That was a lot of money in those days. So, I just threw the ball down into the end zone, into the grass. Folks got excited, and I did it for the rest of my career."

Jones got his start at Texas Southern and was drafted by the Houston Oilers in the 1963 AFL Draft. After being cut, Jones was drafted by the Giants in the 1963 NFL Draft.

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