In a recent announcement, the Chicago Bears signed free agent defensive lineman Justin Jones to a two-year contract in March.
Jones arrived in Chicago after spending four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, where he played in 51 games with 35 starts. His career totals include 108 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 13 QBH, 12 tackles-for-loss, two passes defensed and two fumble recoveries.
In 2021, Jones started in 11 games for the Chargers, totaling 37 tackles (20 solo), 3.0 sacks for minus-9 yards, five tackles-for-loss, one pass defensed and two fumble recoveries. In 2020, he competed in 13 contests with 12 starts, recording 34 tackles, 1.0 sack, four QBH and five tackles-for-loss.
During the 2019 season, Jones started and played in 12 contests, posting a career-high eight tackles in Week 6 at the Steelers. As a rookie in 2018, Jones competed in 15 games and two postseason contests with the Chargers. In his first career game vs. the Chiefs, Jones posted three tackles. He totaled six tackles, 1.0 sack and two QBH in the Chiefs’ post- season run.
A Bronx, N.Y., native, Jones attended South Cobb High School in Austell, Georgia, before going on to play football at North Carolina State University. The defensive lineman was drafted by the Chargers in the third round (84th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft.
According to his bio, on January 27, 2018, Jones played in the 2018 Reese’s Senior Bowl and was part of Denver Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph’s South team that lost 45– 16 to the North team, coached by Houston Texans’ head coach Bill O’Brien.
Jones also attended the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis that year and completed all of the combine and positional drills.
On March 19, 2018, he participated at NC State’s pro day, but opted to stand on his combine numbers and only performed positional drills and the short shuttle.
At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Jones was projected to be a fifth or sixth round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the 14th best defensive tackle prospect in the draft by Scouts Inc., and was ranked the 20th best defensive tackle by DraftScout.com.
Jones was signed by the Bears after defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi failed his physical.
Joseph Phillips is the Sports Editor for the Chicago Crusader Newspaper. He is a Chicago native, who has been a sports writer for over 17 years. He also hosts the SC Media News and Sports Network Q&A radio show on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected].
Joseph Phillips is the Sports Editor for the Chicago Crusader Newspaper. He is a Chicago native, who has been a sports writer for over 17 years. He also hosts the SC Media News and Sports Network Q&A radio show on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago.
