ENGLEWOOD – There was 2:19 left in the first quarter in the final preseason game last Thursday at Arizona when Joseph Jones made the team.
The Broncos’ Marquette King had lofted a nice, high, 49-yard punt that Arizona Cardinals undrafted rookie Corey Willis thought he could return.
Bam! Jones flew in to make the tackle.
Though he is an inside linebacker by position, Jones is the Broncos’ new Keith Burns. Make no mistake, Jones made the Broncos’ 53-man roster because of his special teams play.
“That’s my life right now,’’ he said in the Broncos’ locker room this week. “There are guys who have embraced their role and that’s what I’ve done. I love [special] teams. I would play teams for 20 years.
Obviously, I want to make my way up and play linebacker, but I would be more than happy to go out there and ball out on teams for 20 years.’’
Burns played in 197 NFL games in 13 seasons – 11 with the Broncos – and had just three starts from 1994-2006. He was listed as a middle linebacker. He was really a core special teamer.
Jones was an undrafted rookie out of Plano, Illinois, and Northwestern last year. He spent his first NFL season with the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks before he finally made the 53-man roster with the Broncos for the final two months of the season.
As Joe moved from NFL city to city every few weeks, his wife Amber was left to care for their 1-year-old daughter Scarlette. And late last season, Amber started carrying their second daughter, Aurora, who was born three weeks ago.
Imagine the relief the Jones’ felt when he made the Broncos’ 53-man roster.
“Extremely happy,’’ he said. “My wife is happy. I get to stay here with my family and not bounce around like I did last year. I’ve got a newborn so it’s less stress on my wife to take care of a toddler and newborn by herself. Extremely grateful to be part of this organization. I love this team.’’
Not that the Jones’ were told Joe had made the team. That’s not how it’s done in the NFL.
“It was more like no news is good news,’’ Jones said. “They didn’t tell me, so I just assumed no one upstairs wanted to see me. Both days [Saturday and Sunday] I was in getting treatment just taking care of my body, waiting for someone not to come up to me.’’
To be clear, it was Jones’ complete body of work, not just one special teams tackle, that earned him a spot on the Broncos’ season-opening roster. But Jones and another inside linebacker, Zaire Anderson, were in competition for the same spot. Anderson is the better linebacker. But the Broncos were awful on special teams last year and Jones’ blast on Willis may have broken the tie.
“I definitely think it helped,’’ Jones said, smiling.
As it so happened, the first guy who pounced on Jones after he made the open-field tackle to give him an attaboy? Zaire Anderson.
“I was sad to see him go,’’ Jones said. “He’s a good player, great guy. I’m sad he’s gone.’’
