Taiwan Markis Jones[1] (born December 1, 1993) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at Michigan State. Jones signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2015. The Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League (USFL) selected Jones with the eleventh pick in the twenty-first round of the 2022 USFL Draft.
| No. 49 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Linebacker | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Born: | December 1, 1993 New Baltimore, Michigan, U.S. | ||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||
| Weight: | 252 lb (114 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school: | Anchor Bay (Fair Haven) (MI) | ||||
| College: | Michigan State | ||||
| Undrafted: | 2015 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||
| |||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||
| |||||
Early years
editJones attended Anchor Bay High School in Michigan. Jones was ranked as the 30th best linebacker by Rivals.com and was ranked the 57th ranked linebacker by Scout.com. Jones was selected to the PrepStar's All-Midwest Team. Jones was named to the all-state Division 1-2 first-team by The Detroit News and Associated Press. He was named to the all-county and all-conference teams in his senior season and also was named the Macomb Area Conference Blue Division MVP also in his senior season. Jones was a utility player at high school, where he played at running back, wide receiver and quarterback. Jones recorded 46 tackles and three interceptions in his 2010 season. Jones also played for the Anchor Bay basketball team in which he was a three-year starter. Jones was named an Associated Press Class A All-State honorable mention for the 2010–11 basketball season. He also named to the Detroit Free Press All-East Team in his senior season.[2]
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | 40‡ | Commit date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Jones Outside linebacker |
New Baltimore, Michigan | Anchor Bay | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | -- | Mar 23, 2010 |
Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A
| ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 57 (OLB) Rivals: -- National, 30 (OLB), 10 (Mich) | ||||||
Sources:
| ||||||
Professional career
edit| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 2+5⁄8 in (1.90 m) |
245 lb (111 kg) |
34 in (0.86 m) |
10 in (0.25 m) |
4.82 s | 1.70 s | 2.79 s | 4.33 s | 7.25 s | 33.5 in (0.85 m) |
9 ft 7 in (2.92 m) |
19 reps | |
| All values from NFL Combine/Pro Day[3][4][5] | ||||||||||||
According to NFLDraftScout.com, Jones was projected to go in the fifth round in the 2015 NFL draft[6] and his NFL comparisons were to NFL Linebacker Brandon Spikes[7] and current Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Nico Johnson.[4]
In May 2015, Jones signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent following the conclusion of the 2015 NFL draft.[8] On December 18, 2015, he was promoted to the active roster.[9]
On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Jets as part of final roster cuts.[10] He was re-signed by the Jets on October 26, 2016.[11] He was released again by the Jets on November 22, 2016.[12]
On April 1, 2019, Jones signed a contract to play with the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football, only to learn of the league's suspension of operations the following day.[13]
In October 2019, Jones was selected by the Los Angeles Wildcats in the 2020 XFL Draft's open phase.[14] He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.[15]
References
edit- ^ "Profile". rostermon.com. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ "Michigan State Profile". msuspartans.com. Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
- ^ "Taiwan Jones Combine Profile". NFL.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b "NFL draft Profile". nfl.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "2015 NFL Draft Scout Taiwan Jones College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
- ^ "NFL draft capsule: Physical middle linebacker Taiwan Jones possesses 'Hulk smash' abilities". mlive.com. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
- ^ "CBS Sports Bio". cbssports.com.
- ^ "Jets may have big steal in snubbed LB from Mich. St". nypost.com. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ^ "Taiwan Jones Signed, Devin Smith to IR". www.newyorkjets.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
- ^ Lange, Randy (September 3, 2016). "Jets Release 18 Players Ahead of Deadline". NewYorkJets.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2017.
- ^ Allen, Eric (October 26, 2016). "Jets Place Geno Smith on Injured Reserve". NewYorkJets.com.
- ^ Lange, Randy (November 22, 2016). "Jets Bring Back WR/KR Jeremy Ross". NewYorkJets.com.
- ^ Joseph, Andrew (April 2, 2019). "AAF player learns of league's collapse less than 24 hours after signing contract". For The Win. USA Today. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
- ^ Bender, Bill (October 21, 2019). "XFL Draft picks 2019: Complete results, rosters, players for new football league". Sporting News. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
- ^ Condotta, Bob (April 10, 2020). "XFL suspends operations, terminates all employees, but Jim Zorn says he has hopes league will continue". SeattleTimes.com. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
External links
edit- Michigan State Spartans bio Archived March 7, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
- New York Jets bio Archived April 19, 2018, at the Wayback Machine