What UW CB Sidney Jones’ injury could cost him on draft day
Mar 14, 2017, 10:45 AM
John Clayton says CB Sidney Jones' draft stock dips dramatically following an Achilles tendon injury. (AP)
(AP)
The leg injury that forced Sidney Jones from Washington’s pro day Saturday is likely to cost the Husky cornerback in multiple ways come the NFL Draft, according to 710 ESPN Seattle’s John Clayton.
Multiple reports have indicated that Jones ruptured his Achilles, which means he will miss some, if not all, of the 2017 season. Clayton wrote last week that the junior defensive back was considered a “true first-round pick” but said Monday that he expects Jones’ injury to “dramatically” drop him down most draft boards – possibly to the third through fifth rounds.
“Devastating,” Clayton said. “… A torn Achilles tendon basically ends your season because it needs that whole year to be back. Here it is already March, so maybe at earliest November but, no, I think it can knock him out the whole year.”
Something that could add insult to injury is the fact that Jones previously had a strong performance at the NFL scouting combine, which made participating in UW’s pro day somewhat superfluous.
“That’s where I’m stunned that he actually did want to have that extra workout,” Clayton said, “because he did well at the workout at the combine, and if you do well at workout at the combine, you have the luxury of passing on this. And so he cost himself, unfortunately with that bad injury, a lot of money.”
How much money? Jones was listed as the 16th pick in ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper’s most recent mock draft. Using that as a reference point, here is a contract breakdown of the No. 16 pick last year and the 16th pick in each round after that. All of this is from Spotrac.com.
Round 1: 16th overall: OT Taylor Decker. Four years, $10.97M total, all guaranteed
Round 2: WR Michael Thomas. Four years, $5.1M, $2.6M guaranteed
Round 3: C Isaac Seumalo. Four years, $3.2M, $764K guaranteed
Round 4: WR Ricardo Louis. Four years, $2.91M, $568K guaranteed
Round 5: OT Joe Haeg. Four years, $2.58M, $242K guaranteed
Round 6: QB Jake Rudock. Four years, $2.47M, $134K guaranteed
Round 7: RB Daniel Lasco. Four years, $2.41M, $75K guaranteed
Brock Huard was less convinced than Clayton that the injury would push Jones to the middle rounds, expecting the talented junior will still be taken in the second or third. Still, Huard said the NFL didn’t do Jones any favors by shifting the NFL combine schedule this year.
“I would say the little scheduling quirk that the NFL did this year to move the combine to the end of February and early March did a disservice to Sidney and some of these other players,” Huard said Monday. “Understand that when the season ended and he announced that he was going to forego his eligibility, everything was done to get into peak condition for the NFL combine. These guys go into an incredible amount of training.
“The amount of work, diet, nutrition and everything that goes into this combine, they go to get their absolute peak performance. … And then you come off that for four days until you then, all of a sudden, have to ratchet it all back up and go work out – not healthy.”
Huard said he hopes the agents learn from this and have schools move pro days to the end of March or early April in order to spread out the workouts.
“I may be dead wrong on this, and I certainly am speculating here, but I don’t think it helped in any way for Sidney Jones – his body, his health,” Huard said.
Brady Henderson contributed to this story.
