Bengals WR Marvin Jones has high aspirations for himself:
“I’m not going to go out and just say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m definitely going to the Pro Bowl. I’m going to be an elite receiver,’’ Jones said. “I do believe that in my heart. But I’m not going to go out there and say it. I’m going to say it by what I do on the field. What I do on the field, it can’t be denied if I just take care of my opportunities. Whether it’s 15 targets, six targets or three targets. I want to make sure they’re all 100 percent when I go out there on the field.”
Elite may be just a few fingertips away.
Jones had 77 of those opportunities in his second season and caught 51 of them, making him 29th in the league in converting targets into catches, best on the Bengals, according to profotballfocus.com. That allowed Jones to join Green, Isaac Curtis, Cris Collinsworth, and Chad Johnson as the only Bengals to average at least 14 yards per catch while scoring at least 10 touchdowns.
Those guys have been to a total of 15 Pro Bowls.
He finished as the #21 WR in 2013, racking up 51 catches for 712 yards and 10 touchdowns on just 80 targets. What gives Jones upside is the fact that he played just 48% of the snaps, sharing time with the far-less-effective Mohamed Sanu. In that limited playing time, he posted the #4 FP/snap (.25) of all wideouts who played at least 20% of their team’s snaps. All indications are that Jones is going to start opposite A.J. Green, and even though new OC Hue Jackson likes to run it more than Jay Gruden did, Jones’ new role should ensure that he has plenty of opportunity to make plays in his third year.