With Cody Grimm out, role change coming for Bucs' Sean Jones

[michael89156]

OCTOBER 01, 2011


With Cody Grimm out, role change coming for Bucs' Sean Jones


Sean Jones says his comfort level in the Buccaneers defense has grown substantially now that he’s in his second season in Tampa Bay.
 
That’s a very good thing, because the Bucs are about to ask a lot more of their starting strong safety.
 
Coach Raheem Morris said the loss of starting free safety Cody Grimm to a season-ending knee injury will result in Jones often changing roles and playing free safety in certain scenarios. Grimm who was typically asked to be the eighth defender near the line of scrimmage in running situations. But backups Corey Lynch and Larry Asante are less suited for that role, meaning Jones will be called upon to fulfill it when needed.
 
“You’ll see him move around a little bit,” Morris said of Jones. “You’d like to see him as the guy down in the box making some plays. He’ll do some different things. I have a lot of confidence in Larry playing in the box. You saw him in the box playing free (safety) in the preseason. We’ve seen Corey go in the box a little bit in the preseason.
 
“But we’ll do a little more rotating and center the game plan more around (Jones). There’s no secret there. We did that with him last year when we lost Cody.”
 
Jones took on a similar role when Grimm was lost for the final five games of 2010 because of a broken leg.
 
Jones, 29, has drawn raves from coaches for his play since the preseason. He says remaining in the system for a second year after changing teams twice in two years has been a boost for him.
 
“This is really the first time in my career I can play the same defense two years in a row,” Jones said. “I’m definitely learning news stuff, different nuances each and every day, and it’s helping me out a lot. I can just continue to get better and better. Honestly speaking, I think I had some good years in the past, but I still feel my brightest days are in front of me.”
 
Jones has, perhaps, shown glimpses of what’s to come. He is the Bucs’ third-leading tackler, trailing only MLB Mason Foster and WLB Geno Hayes with 21 total tackles. He also has a sack, a fumble recovery and forced fumble.
 
He doesn’t have an interception and has just one since his arrival last season despite having 16 in his previous four seasons. But that’s not how the Bucs – or Jones – measures his value.
 
“You have a lot of guys who make a play here and there but they can’t tackle well or vice versa,” Jones said. “I try to pride myself in being the total safety. I just want to be a guy who can contribute and help us win.”
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Posted by Stephen Holder at 12:02:48 pm on October 01, 2011

[Condor Bastadon]

We tried Jones as the box safety early on last year and he was pretty bad at it. The second we started using Grimm in that role, the run defense improved immediately. I hope the talk about Jones knowing the defense better helps out, because we can't have him missing tackles at the LOS hoping that Corey Lynch or Asante are going to be able to clean up that mess.

[BucBalla85]

Yea losing Grimm hurts. Was a key man in that defense.

[ryan24]

The article is wrong about one thing. Assante is better suited to play in the box than as a true free safety. If Jones and Assante are on the field at the same time and they move a safety up it will probably be Assante. If Lynch and Jones are on the field at the same time it will be Jones up.

[lyronmewis]

The reason Jones doesn't have many INTs is because he can't catch and just doesn't have a knack for locating the football once it's tipped. There were 2 dropped INTs by him just in the Lions game. Last year I can also remember at least 3 opportunities.

[The Anti-Java]

I think Sean has played pretty well this year so far.  I know he gets bashed a lot around here, but it will be interesting to see if he can stuff the run as well as Cody did.

[JM2]

Cody wasn't blowing anybody up this year. As big a fan as I am of Grimm's, he wasn't playing like the guy we all saw last year. I doubt we see much drop off, if any.

[CyberDilemma]

The reason Jones doesn't have many INTs is because he can't catch and just doesn't have a knack for locating the football once it's tipped. There were 2 dropped INTs by him just in the Lions game. Last year I can also remember at least 3 opportunities.

Jones had 14 interceptions in the 3 years prior to joining the Bucs. That was 3rd in the league for ALL safeties. Not bad for somebody who "can't catch and just doesn't have a knack for locating the football once it's tipped" as you say.

[The Anti-Java]

The reason Jones doesn't have many INTs is because he can't catch and just doesn't have a knack for locating the football once it's tipped. There were 2 dropped INTs by him just in the Lions game. Last year I can also remember at least 3 opportunities.

Jones had 14 interceptions in the 3 years prior to joining the Bucs. That was 3rd in the league for ALL safeties. Not bad for somebody who "can't catch and just doesn't have a knack for locating the football once it's tipped" as you say.

Dude takes a lotta heat around here for some reason.  Good player IMO.