Jones Boys Get Better w/ Age??

Rotoworld.com's blurb on the Jones signing makes an interesting point. After investigating I found it to be quite relevant, and therefore I am going to share it with you. Rotoworld says...

"Jones regressed in Dallas, but he's an upgrade from Alexander and could mature late like his brother."

To see a comparison of careers to this point....



As you can see, Thomas Jones truly didn't have his best years until he had been in the league for 4+ years. Granted, at this time, leaving AZ was like a revelation, as they won 3, 7, and 5 games while he was there. But still, Tampa was coming off a Superbowl win we he went East, and really still had limited success. However, in his 5th year, on the Bears he really blossomed. For many years people expected others to carry the load, but he was always the most consistent runner on that team. Also, you will notice that early in his career, he wasn't a feature back. Making the jump from an average of 120 carries in his first 4 years to an average of 290 over his next four. The increase in carries had a lot to do with his increase in yardage, but his yards/carry improved as well. What I am saying is that Thomas didn't really reach his full potential until he was counted on to carry the load.

Will Julius follow in his brothers footsteps? It certainly seems possible. Before MBIII started showing his skill Jones had a 993 yd and 1084 yd season. So it is possible that he will do better with more carries. He will have to prove he can handle that though as he has had several injuries too. I mentioned earlier that backs often find revival after leaving their first team. Priest Holmes and Chester Taylor both left Baltimore to have much better success. Thomas Jones is another to add to that list. He was certainly known as an underachiever until the Bears gave him a shot. Lets all hope Julius' career arch is a lot like his big brothers. If that happens, the Hawks just found a good back for real cheap.