Draft Scout Snapshot: A closer look at the Packers' picks: Round 1/26 -- Datone Jones, DE, 6-4, 285, UCLA...Jones should give Green Bay's short-handed and underwhelming defensive line an immediate upgrade as an ideal fit for its diversified 3-4 scheme. He's athletic, plays physical and tracks the football in a hurry, tying everything together to blow up the backfield with 19 tackles for loss (6.5 sacks) last season. Jones' experience of playing at multiple spots in the Packers' style of defense will allow coordinator Dom Capers to create pass-rushing mismatches in a tandem with outside linebacker Clay Matthews. - The Sports Xchange
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Draft Scout Datone Jones News
04/28/13 - A closer look at the Packers' picks: Round 1/26 -- Datone Jones, DE, 6-4, 285, UCLA...Jones should give Green Bay's short-handed and underwhelming defensive line an immediate upgrade as an ideal fit for its diversified 3-4 scheme. He's athletic, plays physical and tracks the football in a hurry, tying everything together to blow up the backfield with 19 tackles for loss (6.5 sacks) last season. Jones' experience of playing at multiple spots in the Packers' style of defense will allow coordinator Dom Capers to create pass-rushing mismatches in a tandem with outside linebacker Clay Matthews. - The Sports Xchange
04/28/13 - As long as Datone Jones is a quick study - and his new employers have every reason to believe he will be - the Packers defense just might be in a better position to quickly make amends for last season's forgettable finish. General manager Ted Thompson strongly hinted late Thursday night that the selection of Jones, a speedy and productive defensive end from UCLA, in the first round of the NFL Draft came in response to Green Bay's inability to contain San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick three months ago. "Our veterans will determine the fate of our team, but adding another good athlete, we got a little bit more speed, and (to) try to add a little speed to the defense, we think it's a good idea," Thompson said.
The Packers will play their first game of the 2013 season in the same venue - San Francisco's Candlestick Park - where Kaepernick ran roughshod over their plodding and out-of-sorts defense. The 49ers' option attack propelled Kaepernick to a league-record 181 rushing yards and yielded whopping team outputs of 323 yards on the ground and 579 total yards in their 45-31 stomping of Green Bay during the divisional round of the playoffs. NFC champion San Francisco will host the Packers on Sept. 8. - The Sports Xchange
04/28/13 - Veteran defensive coordinator Dom Capers, after being spared by head coach Mike McCarthy from being the fall guy for that season-ending debacle, endorsed the pick of Jones at No. 26 overall. "Obviously, you'd like to have as much speed as you can," Capers said. "I think the way the offenses are heading - we work against our offense every day on the practice field - you're going to be spread out, it's become more of a space game. And, anytime you're spread out (and) you've got to cover space, the quicker and the faster you are, the better you're going to be."
Capers and Thompson believe Jones can be a difference maker from the outset with a wide range of his attributes, not the least of which is playing fast at the snap of the football. True to his uptempo style, Jones didn't waste any time in starting to endear himself to the loyal Packers fan base. The 22-year-old Southern California native, who didn't start playing football competitively until he was a sophomore in high school, said his rapid development is due in part to carefully watching game footage of the late Reggie White. - The Sports Xchange
04/28/13 - Reggie White's Pro Football Hall of Fame-earning career included a decorated six-year stint with the Packers from 1993 to '98. "All I know is Reggie White playing one way, and that was with maniacal effort and his complete hunger," Jones said after becoming a Packer. "No matter who he lined up against, he wanted to dominate. That's the type of player I want to carry myself as - as a player who wants to dominate at whatever he does and wants to win. I hated losing, and I'm happy to be able to come to an organization like Green Bay with a winning tradition. And, to be able to play at Lambeau Field is crazy. I'm so hyped up right now already; I just want to play."
Like White in his day, the 6-foot-4, 280-pound Jones stood out by the end of his college career at UCLA as more than a defensive end charged to just hunt the quarterback. Jones had 6 1/2 sacks as a senior, but that accounted for just a third of his season-high 19 tackles for loss. He also forced two fumbles, all the while exhibiting his versatility as a five-technique lineman whom first-year Bruins coach Jim Mora Jr., a former NFL head coach, moved around in a 3-4 scheme that mirrors the Packers'. "As we watched him play, it was easy to project him playing in our defense because they play a very similar defense at UCLA," Capers said. - The Sports Xchange
04/28/13 - While Capers thinks Jones has room to get bigger from a strength standpoint as "a very lean guy," the longtime NFL coach is enticed by Jones' vertical stature. Jones blocked two kicks last season and also was utilized on offense as an in-line guy in short-yardage situations, even catching a touchdown pass. "If you're drawing up a defensive end, you like to have a guy with this kind of height and length to him. So, it's one of the things that was appealing to us," Capers said. Not to mention Jones is capable of becoming the linchpin of Green Bay's defensive line as a three-down player who doesn't leave the field. "He's athletic, and he's long. He moves with ease," Capers said. "So, I think that he'll be able to give us rush inside. And, I think in our 3-4, he can play out at defensive end, and he can be an inside player and do a good job of (playing) both the run and the pass inside." - The Sports Xchange
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