Hey, good for Tony Jones Jr. The former New Orleans Saints running back landed on his feet after being waived ahead of Week 5’s game with the Seattle Seahawks — and he ended up joining the team he spent all week practicing to run against, with Seattle claiming him off of the waiver wire. The Seahawks lost leading rusher Rashaad Penny to a broken ankle against New Orleans, so Jones joins a backfield featuring rookie draft pick Kenneth Walker and veteran backup DeeJay Davis.
It’s an improvement over his position with the Saints, where Jones was buried on the depth chart behind Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram II, and Dwayne Washington. He was a healthy scratch in recent weeks and the Saints opted to activate Latavius Murray from the practice squad ahead of him in Week 4, losing Murray to the Denver Broncos after a strong performance. Now they’re without both Murray and Jones, with Ingram having averaged just 1.8 yards per carry against Seattle (on 9 attempts).
Kamara looked more like his old self with a heavy workload, but we know he can play. The concern all year has been the depth behind him. Maybe the Saints can call up David Johnson or one of the other running backs they worked out over the summer, but it’s unlikely they’ll be able to make a move ahead of the Nov. 1 trade deadline: they’re under the salary cap by about $2.3 million and will be hard-pressed to be buyers or sellers, even if veteran backs become available around the league. Hopefully Kamara’s health endures for the next twelve weeks and beyond.