RB Matt Jones Wants Release or Trade

We’ve been hearing for weeks now about how Matt Jones isn’t in the Redskins’ 2017 plans. It’s evident by listening to Jay Gruden talk about Rob Kelley and the simple fact that the team took Samaje Perine in the 4th round of the draft. I guess the obvious is why Matt Jones has decided not to attend any of the voluntary workout sessions so far this off-season. And according to one of ESPN’s John Keim’s sources, Jones doesn’t plan to attend any of the voluntary stuff throughout the remainder of the off-season. He wants to be released or traded.

The thing is, the Redskins, again according to Keim, have no plans to release Jones right now.

Last year, Jones entered the season as the team’s starter at RB after they moved on from Alfred Morris and basically handed Jones the reigns. He proceeded to hurt his knee and lose his starting job to UDFA rookie Rob Kelley after another costly fumble . Jones went on to be inactive for the second half of the season.

Gruden keeps saying the right stuff and publicly professing that the team hasn’t written Jones off, but according to Keim, Jones has gotten word via the team that he’s not in their plans.

So there you have it. Kelley and Perine will duke it out for the starting spot and the other guy will make the team as the backup. Chris Thompson is locked-in as the third-down back. Mack Brown has the edge for the RB4 spot (over Jones) thanks to his STs ability.

Still, it doesn’t make sense to cut Jones, yet. What if one of their backs gets hurt? Jones is still young, cheap, and experienced on this team and in this offense. He’d make perfect sense if someone else goes down.

We’ll see how this all shakes out, but as of now, barring injury, Matt Jones won’t be a Washington Redskin this season.