Chicago Bears have an open competition for punt return job

LAKE FOREST – As the punt return man, the No. 1 most important job is to hold onto the football.

Bears rookie Velus Jones Jr. has dropped two key fourth-quarter punts in recent weeks. As a result, his status in that job is now in question. The Bears are holding an open competition for the punt return job this week during practice at Halas Hall.

Trailing the Giants by a touchdown, Jones muffed a punt with just over two minutes remaining in a Week 4 loss. The fumble essentially ended any chance at a comeback. In Week 6 against the Commanders, Jones again muffed a punt late in the game. This one, with about eight minutes remaining, gave Washington the ball inside the 10-yard line and led to the go-ahead touchdown.

“I own up to my mistakes,” Jones said after the Washington game. “That was a devastating blow.”

Last spring, the Bears drafted Jones in the third round, 71st overall. His abilities as a return man were part of the reason why the Bears liked him. He had an electric 48-yard return during the preseason, but then missed the beginning of the regular season due to a nagging hamstring injury. Since returning, he has been used mostly as a return man, and sparingly on offense.

Now, Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said Friday that it’s open season for the punt return job. In addition to Jones, Hightower mentioned receiver Dante Pettis, rookie cornerback Josh Blackwell and veteran safety Eddie Jackson as guys who could potentially win the job.

Pettis returned punts in the preseason and was previously the punt returner when Jones was out with the hamstring injury. Jackson hasn’t fielded a punt in a game since 2017, but did it in college at Alabama. Blackwell is an undrafted rookie out of Duke who is untested as a return man in the NFL.

Jackson has shown in the past that he can be dangerous with the ball in his hands after an interception. He would certainly be an intriguing option.

“Every time we do drill work, he’s back there running down as a gunner trying to help the young guys, or he’s back there catching [punts] himself,” Hightower said. “He does a lot of work that people don’t see outside of defense to help young guys.”

Punt returning is unlike anything else in football. The return man has to make a snap decision whether to field a punt, call a fair catch or let the ball hit the turf in the matter of seconds.

“It’s tough,” Pettis said. “The ball’s in the air for right around four seconds. Sometimes [more] if they shank it, but for the most part you don’t really know until the last second. If you see them or feel them or if the ball is hanging up, you have about a second to throw that hand up and get situated.”

The Bears are not giving up on Jones. It’s possible he’s still returning punts on Monday night in New England, but it seems likely that the Bears could relieve him of that duty for a little while.

They still like the upside of the rookie, though. He was the SEC co-special teams player of the year last season as a return man at Tennessee. Hightower noted that “he’ll be fine,” and that rookies make mistakes.

When Jones muffed the punt last week against Washington, Pettis was one of the first guys by his side on the sideline. Pettis has no doubt that Jones will put the mistake behind him. Even if he doesn’t return punts this week, Jones could eventually wind up back in that job.

“He’s big, strong, fast, and likes contact,” Pettis said. “That’s not a thing you see a lot at punt return. Kind of reminds me of Cordarrelle Patterson, big bodied back at returner. Normally, you get a returner who’s super shifty, but the big guys are the ones that teams have problems covering.”