Kobe Montrell Jones (born May 18, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

who is a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Mississippi State, and originally signed with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2021. He has also played for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

and the Tennessee Titans.

Personal life and high school

Kobe Jones was born on May 18, 1998, to Telesia and Melvin Jones. Jones attended

Starkville High School Starkville High School (SHS) is a public secondary school in Starkville, Mississippi, United States. It is the only high school in the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District, serving grades 9–12. It offers more than 140 courses, ...

where he helped lead them to the state championship for their region and as a result of his contributions was selected to be in the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star game.

College career

Rated as a four-star recruit by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, Jones chose to stay close to home and attend

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

, also located in

Starkville, Mississippi Starkville is a city in, and the county seat of, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States. Mississippi State University is a land-grant institution and is located partially in Starkville but primarily in an adjacent unincorporated area desig ...

. Jones chose to redshirt his freshman year and did not play as a true freshman. In Jones' redshirt freshman season, he appeared in all thirteen games and recorded his first sack in the last game of the season for Mississippi State, the

2017 TaxSlayer Bowl The 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 31, 2017, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. The 73rd edition of the Gator Bowl featured the Louisville Cardinals of the Atlantic Coast Confe ...

against Louisville. The next year, Jones again appeared in thirteen games and recorded his first start against

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. In his Junior year, Jones would again appear in thirteen games and start one game, and additionally would be second on the team in sacks with four. In his senior and shortened year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Jones would start eleven games and be named to the SEC Community Service Team.

Professional career

Atlanta Falcons

After going undrafted in the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

, Jones was signed as an undrafted free agent by the

. Jones was released before the regular season started to shorten the Falcons roster to the 53 man limit.

Miami Dolphins

Jones was briefly a member of the

, being signed to the practice squad on November 17 and being waived on November 29.

Tennessee Titans

Jones was signed to a reserve/future contract by the Tennessee Titans in January 2022 but was later released on May 2, 2022, along with three other players.

Green Bay Packers

After being released from the Titans roster, on May 9, 2022, Jones was once again signed to a practice squad, this time to the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

. He was waived during final roster cuts on August 30, but re–signed to the team's practice squad the following day. After more than a year in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

, Jones was elevated to an active roster spot during the regular season for the Packers' week 8 game against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

. He was released on November 1, 2022.

Carolina Panthers

On November 7, 2022, Jones signed with the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 9, 2023. He was waived on August 29, 2023.

References

External links

Carolina Panthers bioMississippi State Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kobe 1998 births Living people American football linebackers Sportspeople from Starkville, Mississippi Starkville High School alumni Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Atlanta Falcons players Miami Dolphins players Tennessee Titans players Green Bay Packers players Carolina Panthers players