Check the Report: Daniel Kelly Scouts WR Marvin Jones Jr.

Former NFL scout Daniel Kelly provides his scouting report on Lions wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr.

Marvin Jones is the Lions' best wide receiver on their roster, but he is pushing 31 years old next spring and the team finds itself at a very real philosophical crossroads. 

Jones is set to finish his five-year, $40 million contract this season. 

So, it begs the question: What do the Lions do with Jones going forward?

Does management stick with what it knows will work for this season and just stand pat?

Does it give him a big extension and keep its fingers crossed until he is in his mid-30s?

Or do the Lions look to free agency or the draft for a younger and/or more cap-friendly receiver?

Could there even be a fourth option: Trading him to a team that thinks it is maybe a receiver away sometime between now and the trade deadline and in return for a high draft pick?  

Let’s start by looking at my evaluation of Jones from last season.

WR #11 Marvin Jones Jr. - 6-foot-2, 198 pounds (starter) 

Grade: B (Good player, but not elite; good enough to win with, however)

Scouting Report 

Well-rounded receiver with speed and athletic ability. Statistically, he’s the leading receiver on the team. Runs a lot of the shorter-to-intermediate route levels. Quick and crisp at the breakpoints. He’s able to hard sell that he’s staying vertical before quickly snapping off the route. Able to create separation and gain route leverage. Able to catch in traffic areas. Sometimes body catches. Can take a hit and hang on. Can turn it on and get deep. Can gain some separation. Can go up and get the ball at the highpoint. Spot-checked blocking ability and got after it some. Has willingness-and-toughness-blocking. Best overall receiver on the team and in my evaluations.

When looking at the pros and cons of Jones, for starters, he works well in this offense and with Matthew Stafford. To me, he clearly is still playing at a high level. When evaluating receivers, the No. 1 thing I look at are the hips. The thing that struck me about Jones is he still looks quick and crisp at the breakpoint of routes. That is huge, in my mind. Some receivers can change direction on a dime, and others look more like the top of a coat hanger and round off everything at the breakpoint when running routes. The breakpoint is the point of the route when the receiver changes direction. You do not want the latter. Receivers who run coat hanger routes are a pick-6 waiting to happen when corners can jump the routes and take it to the house. Jones is still looking agile in the hips, and he can still run good, clean and crisp routes. He still changes direction very well. That is very important to me as an evaluator. 

He also plays like a veteran, which is a plus. He plays like he knows what he is doing out there. I love how he can hard-sell a deeper vertical route and drive a corner downfield before coming back and making the catch. He is polished-looking. Jones is also tough, dependable and someone who Stafford trusts. That, too, is important. 

The cons are the investment it takes and again, his age. According to ESPN.com, the NFLPA reports that the average career of an NFL player is 3.3 years. Put another way, Jones is already playing with "house money." A rookie or younger player might be easier on the cap number. But, as in life, so it is with football ... sometimes, you get what you pay for. I will never forget when Charlie Weis was the offensive coordinator of the Jets, when I was with the organization. He said, "Dan, you either hire them when they are young and pay them nothing, or you hire them when they are old and pay them a lot." 

As an evaluator, barring either some catastrophic career-ending injury or something crazy off the field, to me, Jones looks like he has a good amount of football left in him. I think he can play another three-five years. That’s the feeling I get when I watch him play. Statistically, case in point, he went from a 61-catch season in 2017 to a 35-catch season in 2018, but bounced back and recorded a 62-catch season last year (the highest number of catches he has had as a Lion). He is not showing signs of slowing down. 

For the sake of management and coaching, this team needs to win now. This is not a five-year, a three-year or maybe even a two-year proposition for their jobs. This might be it. Therefore, for my money, I think the Lions will keep Jones through the season. I think that is a lock. If the Lions win a lot of games and the division like I am predicting, I feel Jones gets an extension, and finishes his career in Detroit. 

However, if the Lions win just three games and ownership fires everyone, Jones will likely finish his career in another uniform, and the new regime will probably go another direction with draft picks by "bringing in its own guys." If the Lions do not have a good record at season's end, but everyone gets a free pass because of COVID-19 or some other reason, then, I believe Jones' extension will depend on how close they were to making the playoffs. 

I think the option that makes the least amount of sense is a trade for a team that must win now, especially after Jones went on IR late last season with that freak foot injury. Maybe if the Lions were coming off a nine-win season, had just missed the playoffs and everyone's job was safe, a trade might be the route to go. But, not in this situation. This team can not afford to trade a good football player. And it's because, at this point, everyone's job depends on good football players winning games.