Linebacker Vi Jones represents the fifth linebacker the Bucs will lean on for a heavy dose of snaps this season. At the beginning of the 2024 season, the starters were Lavonte David and K.J. Britt with backup SirVocea Dennis occupying a nickel ‘backer role. Dennis was lost for the season to injury in Week 4 and Britt left the Bucs’ Week 13 game against the Panthers with an injury of his own. He is likely to miss at least one more game. J.J. Russell finished most of the Panthers game but also missed Week 14 due to injury.

As a result, in comes Jones to play last week against the Raiders. He played 40 snaps. I took a look at all of them to get a sense of who he is as a player, what he might bring to the table and whether he can provide a spark for a position group that has struggled for most of this year.

By The Numbers

Bucs ILB Vi Jones – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Pro Football Reference credited Vi Jones with five combined tackles last week. Pro Football Focus noted he did not miss a tackle either. He was not credited with a defensive stop from the grading site, defined as tackle that results in a “failure” for the offense, and his average depth of tackle on run plays was 6.0 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. And NFL Pro credits Jones with being the closest defender on one target resulting in a catch for 25 yards.

The catch allowed was on a third-and-4 in the fourth quarter where the Bucs were running a six-man pressure and Jones was dropping from a mugged position in the A gap. With three players running crossing patterns in the middle of the field, Jones got turned around by the two shallows and lost tight end Brock Bowlers on the deep cross.

It is possible he should have followed Bowers, a tough assignment in any circumstance, let alone the position Jones was in. But it is also possible that Jamel Dean should not have followed tight end Michael Myers’ shallow route and dropped to pick up Bowers. We will likely never know if Dean had a follow tag on that play or not.

Vi Jones On Tape – Bucs vs. Raiders

The biggest thing I want to convey when watching Vi Jones is that he is a much better athlete than either J.J. Russell or K.J. Britt. It shows as he moves in space. He isn’t an elite athlete. But he is a significant upgrade over the other two. Take a look at his measurements coming out of college in 2022.

Vi Jones is a LB prospect in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 8.87 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 274 out of 2419 LB from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/b78EgoY5JP #RAS https://t.co/TKPMYjHTzB pic.twitter.com/ivfF6qRo3Y

— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) May 2, 2022

Now I will say, after watching Jones I wouldn’t have guessed his testing would have been this good. But he’s 100% an improvement in that he can flip his hips and change direction mid-drop. This should help head coach Todd Bowles feel more comfortable with middle of the field hook zones and with Jones as the pole runner in Cover 2.

Coverage

It is a small sample size, but I generally thought Vi Jones did a decent job diagnosing route concepts and reacting correctly to what he was processing in coverage. Las Vegas ran a good bit of mesh in front of him with multiple receivers crossing each other. Jones was careful to not bite on the first receiver and showed solid recognition skills to properly react to the concept overall, especially as it related to his teammates’ movements. He also had subtle movements at his landmarks that helped him close space with the nearest defender. This is something Britt K.J. has lacked throughout the season, staying glued to his drop zone rather than finding an eligible to dissuade opposing quarterbacks from throwing to.

Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised to see how quickly he would try to get his head turned around after seeing a receiver look back for the ball. When the Raiders got down into the low red zone Jones was able to adapt to play action, communicate what he was seeing to his teammates mid play and help contain rollouts without leaving receivers open.

Now, he is not a great anticipator, diagnosing plays pre-snap to get to spots early. He’s definitely more of a “read-and-react” linebacker who needs a lot of communication to be at his best. And running mate Lavonte David provided him with that and then some in this game.

Jones is not someone you want covering elite athletes. The Raiders were able to isolate Jones on the outside one-on-one against first-round pick Brock Bowers in the end zone and that went … well, like you think it would. Jones got flustered and Bowers drew a defensive pass interference call. Bowers also left Jones in the dust on a sail route where he had outside leverage and Jones couldn’t transition laterally out of his vertical drop quick enough to keep up. But there are very few linebackers in the NFL who can keep up with Bowers in those situations.

In general, I do think Jones can be an improvement in coverage over Britt, who is PFF’s 84th graded coverage linebacker out of 86 qualifying players, as well as Russell, who sports a 52.7 grade that would rank tied for 63rd if he met the qualifying threshold.

Run Defense

Bucs ILB Vi Jones – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Vi Jones’ penchant for reading and reacting to the play follows suit in the run game. He’s more deliberate in his motions as if he is hedging against getting sucked up into the initial direction of the play and he doesn’t want to get caught out of position. This is partly why his average depth of tackle was so high in the game. He’s getting to the ball carrier late. And his lighter frame allows offensive linemen to create real movement when they get hands on him. In this game Jones did not show a downhill mentality to meet ball carriers in the hole.

As a tackler, Jones comes off as more of a drag to the ground kind of guy rather than a hitter. He is listed on the Bucs’ team website at the same 225 pounds he was coming out of N.C. State in 2022. That’s an oversized safety even in today’s NFL. I doubt he’s going to generate the kind of force necessary to be a difference-maker in run defense without an instinctual ability to get to spots before blockers can. And he didn’t show that ability in this game.

Hopes should be tempered with a third-year undrafted free agent who is only getting on the field for the first time 13 weeks into this season. But in a limited sample size he showed some things other Bucs linebackers have struggled to this year. And right now, that can move the needle a little for this defense.

Players can have solid-to-good games. And Jones’ performance against the Raiders was much more solid than good. Last year J.J. Russell had a good game against Carolina in Week 13. K.J. Britt had a good enough run at the end of 2023 for the Bucs to feel satisfied with him as the starter opposite Lavonte David to begin this year. One game does not a full evaluation make.

“When Vi came in, he played well,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said this week.

In terms of projectable skills, Jones looked the part of a linebacker from an athletic standpoint, and he was generally where he was supposed to be. And that’s not a bad start heading into Los Angeles to face the Chargers in Week 15.