Yahoo! Sports' Jason Cole wrote a piece that claimed Bengals newest wide receiver Matt Jones had such a poor workout, it's surprising that the Bengals signed him in the first place.
Matt Jones, a 6-foot-6, 218-pounder who once ran a 4.37 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine, didn’t exactly impress the football people with the Bengals despite getting signed.
“It was one of the worst workouts I have ever seen,” one of the sources said. “I don’t care how fast his 40 time is or was, he’s a slow-twitch athlete.”
We're written about Jones, claiming that he's given a chance mostly on his size and potential. His work ethic, which most people question, isn't necessarily inspiring.
One of his former coaches with the Jaguars said the onus is completely on Jones.
“He has always had the athletic ability,” the coach said. “The desire, that’s another matter. All I’ll say is that it’s up to Matt what kind of player he wants to be.”
In one respect, a bad workout in February for a player that took a year off is probably something that's somewhat expected. If Jones was gearing up for a return to the NFL, he was likely thinking that the interest level for him would come after the draft, free agency and maybe even training camp. He'd be that guy that others teams would need after injuries rotten the wide receiver depth.
In another respect, Jones has a crappy work ethic.
Either way, it doesn't change our position. He's cheap talent. If he doesn't work out, the Bengals cut him for a minimal loss. And he's starting from scratch and has to beat out several wide receivers to even make the team.
Of course, that doesn't mean that James Walker won't take this opportunity to go balls-out on theorizing why insiders, unnamed sources, people within the organization, are making public comments about it.
Could this discontent be coming from the coaching staff? There have been rifts in the past between owner Mike Brown's football decisions and the coaches having to make it work on the field, especially with examples like this in which Cincinnati is trying to get a troubled player on the cheap to fill an important role.
Settle down, James. We're talking about Matt Jones. Matt freaking Jones.