What makes Jones a perfect fit for a Brady-led offense?

Bruce Arians has made it known that the Buccaneers intend to run their base offense out of 12 personnel in 2020. Therefore, besides Evans and Godwin, Tampa Bay is going to deploy a heavy dosage of Rob Gronkowski, Cameron Brate, and O.J. Howard.

Arians has always been fond of having a featured running back in his offense as well. That should bode well for Jones, who showed that he can handle a heavier workload in 2019.

On the other hand, Brady-led offenses — especially in recent years — have typically utilized running backs in the team’s passing game. From 2015-2019, the New England Patriots incorporated James White more and more in their offense.

In the past five seasons with Brady as his quarterback, White tallied 40+ receptions, 400+ receiving yards, and three or more receiving touchdowns in each season. Regardless of the other weapons the Buccaneers possess, there’s no reason to believe they won’t use Jones in a similar manner in 2020.

Coming out of USC, one of the knocks on Jones was that he wasn’t a polished receiving option. Altogether, in his three years in college, Jones accumulated only 32 catches for 302 yards and three touchdowns. Then, to begin his career in the NFL, Jones had just seven receptions for 33 yards in 2018.

Nevertheless, Jones got into the lab and worked on his craft, making vast improvements as a pass-catcher in 2019. The former Trojan would haul in a modest 31 receptions for 309 yards. While he didn’t record a receiving touchdown, he shined in other areas as a receiving threat.

Jones would average 1.82 yards per route run during the 2019 season, which was the fifth-best mark among running backs. Also, the elusive running back would notch 9.4 yards after the catch per reception. Only Dalvin Cook, Austin Ekeler, and Joe Mixon averaged more yards after the catch per reception last season.

Lastly, Jones has only dropped three passes while being targeted 49 times since 2018. Being a sure-handed receiver is an ideal way to get in Brady’s good graces as a running back.

Throughout the 2019 season, Arians spoke highly of Jones in certain moments. At the same time, he didn’t hesitate to criticize him when he fell short as a pass protector last season. However, with Brady working in tandem with Jones, Arians could definitely have more positives than negatives to say about the third-year running back when the 2020 season gets underway.