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Fantasy Football Impact: Is it Time to Jump Ship on Ronald Jones?

I’ve personally never been the biggest fan of Ronald Jones since he entered the league last year. Checking in at five-foot-eleven and 205lbs, Jones appeared to have the makings of being a shifty back within Tampa Bay’s offense.

2018 was a forgettable rookie campaign for Jones as he only played in six games. During those six games, he rushed for a paltry 44 yards and one touchdown. Additionally, he caught two passes for 59 yards and no scores. 2018 looked pretty bleak for the young Buccaneers’ running back, but the team is not ready to give up on him just yet.

So far, through three games in 2019, Jones already has more rushing yards and the same number of receiving yards than he had in all of last season. He’s currently averaging 5.3 yards per carry and has been a much more effective runner.

Many of us were quick to pull the plug on Jones in fantasy and not give him a second chance. Well, while he’s not doing anything extraordinarily explosive for Tampa’s run offense, he certainly has been making significant strides towards improvement.

He has come a long way from where he was last season, where so many of us said he was turning into another bust. The possibility of him not panning out could still happen, but so can the possibility of him becoming an efficient running back as well.

He clearly has been having more success in terms of rushing averages compared to fellow teammate Peyton Barber who is currently at a pace of 3.7 yards per tote. Even though Barber has received more carries than Jones in their first two seasons together, that may be quickly coming to an end.

They nearly had an identical amount of rushes against the Giants on Sunday with Jones having a significantly more effective afternoon than Barber (Jones: 14 Att for 80 yds, Barber: 13 Att for 48 yds).

It remains too early to determine whether or not Jones will become someone fantasy managers will want to rely on, but it sure is encouraging seeing him progress in the right direction. We will have to continue to monitor how he matures and see what kind of numbers he will put up against some formidable defenses looming ahead on the Buccaneers’ schedule.

Jones just may change my opinion of him if he can fully turn it around in 2019.