Velus Jones Jr. placed on waivers by Chicago Bears

LAKE FOREST – Velus Jones Jr.’s journey with the Chicago Bears appears to be over. The Bears placed Jones on waivers Friday. The team also released veteran fullback Khari Blasingame.

For Jones and the Bears, it has been a long, strange 2½ years. He had not appeared in a game since Week 1 this season, when he was benched after fumbling his first kick return of the season.

The Bears selected Jones with a third-round draft pick (71st overall) in 2022. Jones was the first offensive player that general manager Ryan Poles ever selected in the draft. Jones, however, never contributed much to the Bears’ offense. In three years, he caught only 12 passes and totaled 300 yards from scrimmage in 27 games.

A big reason that Poles and coach Matt Eberflus liked Jones coming out of Tennessee was because of Jones’ abilities on special teams. In 2021, he was the SEC Co-Special Teams Player of the Year for the Vols as a return man.

Pretty quickly into his NFL career, though, fumbles on special teams became an issue. As a rookie, Jones twice fumbled on key fourth-quarter punt returns. He fumbled in key spots in Week 4 against the New York Giants and again in Week 6 against the Washington Commanders. Both were one-possession losses. At that point, the Bears moved him off punt return but kept him on as their kick returner.

At the same time, the team struggled to find him a role on offense. The wide receiver wound up with more carries (19) than catches (12). During training camp in August, the Bears toyed with moving Jones to running back. He had some modest success in the role during the preseason.

He became something of a star on HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” especially when the show rehashed the story of when Jones and Colts receiver Michael Pittman bought a pet ferret when they were college roommates at USC.

The hope had been that Jones could finally became a weapon for the Bears this season with a new kickoff alignment. The NFL expected more kicks to be returned, and the Bears hoped that Jones could be dangerous in that role. Kick return was supposed to be the one place where Jones was rock solid. He never lost a fumble on a kick return during his first two NFL seasons, only on punts.

Unfortunately, Jones fumbled his very first kick return of the 2024 season. It was bad, too. Not only did he muff the kick, but the ball fell between his arms and he accidentally kicked it 20 yards to the other team. It was a stunning development for a player who the Bears stuck behind for more than two years.

Jones has not played in a game since. DeAndre Carter has served as the team’s lead return man. The Bears have designated Jones as inactive in each of their five games since.

This week, the Bears have three players likely to come off injured reserve soon: offensive tackle Larry Borom, running back Travis Homer and defensive end Jacob Martin. Waiving Jones and cutting Blasingame was likely to make room on the 53-man roster for two of the players expected to come off IR. Those corresponding moves would likely come Saturday.

Blasingame has been dealing with a knee injury for most of the season. Without him, the Bears have used backup center Doug Kramer as a goal-line fullback. Homer is also the teams best blocking running back, if he returns.