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The Cincinnati Bengals won 11 games in 2013, and the emergence of wide receiver Marvin Jones had a big part to play in it. The second-year man out of California caught 51 balls for 712 yards and 10 scores as he became Andy Dalton's No. 2 target behind the All-Pro A.J. Green.
Jake Liscow at Pro Football Focus broke down his breakout season while also looking at what the Bengals should expect of Jones in 2014:
In 2013, Jones was especially effective in the deep and left part of the field, where he caught seven of 10 targets for 193 yards and two of his touchdowns. But he also showed some wiggle after the catch, with his 13 broken tackles in the passing game ranking 10th among all receivers, most of whom had more chances. He didn’t drop a pass until Week 10 and finished with a very solid 5.5% Drop Rate.
Jones ran 444 routes and was targeted on 17.3% of them. By comparison, Sanu ran 503 routes and was targeted on 14.5%. Green was the highest-utilized Bengals receiver, targeted on 24.5% of his routes. It’s reasonable to project 60 more routes for Jones based on his higher usage rate in the second half of 2014. Assuming his target rate stays at 17.3%, that’s another 13 targets.
The guys at PFF have done a great job at predicting future stardom for Bengals players, from defensive end Carlos Dunlap, to cornerback Adam Jones.
They even projected defensive end Wallace Gilberry to become a breakout star with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2011. While it didn't happen in KC, Gilberry has become that with the Bengals. In his first 30 games with Cincinnati, Gilberry registered 14 sacks and 34 QB hurries.
In other words, this is just one more reason to expect another great year from Jones in 2014.