Getty Jonathan Jones will miss the remainder of the 2021 season.
The New England Patriots will be without one of their top corners for the rest of the season.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, cornerback Jonathan Jones will be out for the season after undergoing shoulder surgery on Monday, October 26. The veteran cornerback had been placed on injured reserve last week.
Jones initially suffered the injury during the Patriots’ Week 6 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Although he’s technically not one of the team’s starting corners — that role belongs to J.C. Jackson and Jalen Mills — he’s a key figure in the New England secondary.
The veteran cornerback had played in 54% of the team’s snaps over the first six weeks and 43% of the team’s special teams snaps.
Although he’s unheralded, Jones has been a key fixture of the Patriots since he was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2016. Outside of winning two Super Bowls with the franchise, the 28-year-old has played in 85 games to go along with 27 starts.
The Patriots are currently thin at cornerback after trading former Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore to the Carolina Panthers.
Bryant Plays Well in Jones’ Absence
New England turned to Myles Bryant — a second-year corner who signed off of the practice squad last week — to fill Jones’ void against the New York Jets in Week 7. Bryant actually posted a solid stat line, with six tackles, a sack and a forced fumble against the Jets.
Patriots’ cornerbacks had an all-around solid day in the 54-13 victory over the Jets, as they limited New York’s quarterbacks to 237 total yards passing while forcing two interceptions. Bryant — who was playing in just his third game of the season — posted a solid coverage grade of 66.9 for the game, according to Pro Football Focus.
That coverage grade actually exceeded starting cornerback Mills’ coverage grade for the game (52.8).
Last week, the Patriots hosted three veteran cornerbacks for workouts — D.J. Hayden, Brian Poole and De’Vante Bausby.
Patriots’ Depth Steps Up in Wake of Injuries
Speaking of the Patriots’ banged-up secondary, veteran safety Devin McCourty exited the win over the Jets in the second quarter due to injury.
Head coach Bill Belichick paid tribute to Kyle Duggar and Adrian Phillips for stepping up in McCourty’s absence. He also singled out Bryant’s performance while filling in for the injured Jones during his postgame media availability.
“We’re fortunate,” said Belichick. “We have three really good safeties, and Devin’s certainly quarterbacked the secondary for a long time now. Those guys practice [that] and they rotate through there. So Kyle and [Adrian] are both very good players in their own right, and both smart players. They handled things. [Myles Bryant] also stepped back in there, played some safety as well.
“I thought defensively it was not a perfect effort but a solid effort,” Belichick concluded.
The Patriots will look to carry that momentum and string out their first winning streak of the season as they travel to face the 4-2 Los Angeles Chargers in Week 8.
“Proud of the way the team’s bounced back here and hopefully we can string another good set of days together and head out to [Los Angeles],” Belichick said.
“I thought our guys did a real good job today, players were ready to go,” Belichick continued. “We had a good week and came out, got off to a good start, and played from ahead.”