Mark Jones (American football)
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| Tampa Bay Buccaneers — No. 11 | |
| Wide receiver | |
| Date of birth: November 3, 1980 | |
| Height: 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | Weight: 185 lb (84 kg) |
| National Football League debut | |
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| 2004 for the New York Giants | |
| Career history | |
| College: Tennessee | |
| NFL Draft: 2004 / Round: 7 / Pick: 206 | |
Teams:
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Stats at NFL.com | |
Mark Christopher Jones (born November 3, 1980) is an American football wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. He served as the team's primary kick returner from 2005-2007. He suffered what was likely a career ending knee injury playing against the Detroit Lions on game 7 of the 2007 regular season.
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[edit] College career
Mark Jones played all over the field at the University of Tennessee, seeing action at wide receiver, safety, punt returner, and kick returner. For his career, he caught 36 passes. Jones also racked up 116 career tackles, four interceptions, 10 defended passes, two forced fumbles, one tackle for a loss, and one recovered fumble. On the special teams side of the ball, he returned 46 punts for 543 yards and 1 touchdown; he also returned four kickoffs for 138 yards and one touchdown. His longest kickoff return was 82 yards for a touchdown in his junior year. For his senior year, he ranked second in the SEC and third in the national standings, averaging 15.7 yards per punt return. Jones majored in psychology.
[edit] Professional career
[edit] New York Giants
Jones was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 206th pick of the 2004 NFL Draft. He was waived on September 5, 2004 and then picked up by the New York Giants the next day. Jones was the primary punt returner for the Giants, starting in 14 games at the spot. He also lined up at wide receiver and defensive back occasionally throughout the season. Jones finished the season with 227 yards on 34 returns (6.7 average) and his longest return was for 29 yards. He also returned two kickoffs for 37 yards, with a long of 20 yards. Jones, however did not make an impact with the Giants, and after missing the last two games with an injury, was released.
[edit] Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Giants released Mark Jones on September 3, 2005, and he was picked up by the Bucs on September 7. He was an overachiever that year, starting in all sixteen regular season games and the Buccaneers' only playoff game against the Washington Redskins. Because of the Buccaneers' #1 defense, the opposing team was forced to punt to Jones, which is why he led the team with an NFL-best 51 punt returns for 492 yards. His best play of the 2005 season came against the Atlanta Falcons when he returned a punt in overtime 28 yards to set up a game-winning Matt Bryant field goal. Jones returned four punts for 37 yards in the NFC Wild Card game. Following a season-ending knee injury suffered on October 21, 2007, Jones was placed on IR October 24.
[edit] Personal
Mark Jones was a community contributor with the Giants in 2004, helping out as a professor at the Giants' "Football 101" program in New York. He also spoke to children in New York elementary schools about staying healthy and making right choices. In high school, he was a starting tailback and defensive back for four years. Jones went to Strath Haven High School. He was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Player of the Year and USA Today Player of the Year for Pennsylvania in 1999. Jones led his high school team to a 15-0 record as a senior and was named Class 3A All-State.
