Marcus Elliot Jones (born October 22, 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

of the

National Football League 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 ...

(NFL). 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 ...

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and was drafted by the Patriots in the third round of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

Early life and high school

Jones grew up in

Enterprise, Alabama Enterprise is a city in the southeastern part of Coffee County and the southwestern part of Dale County in Southeastern Alabama, United States. Its population was 28,711 at the 2020 census. Enterprise is the primary city of the Enterprise micr ...

and attended Enterprise High School, where he played basketball and football. He was named all-state as a senior after recording 27 tackles with five interceptions and 16 passes broken up on defense and returning three punts and one kickoff for touchdowns.

College career

Troy

2017 season

Jones began his college football career at

. He was named the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

Freshman of the Year and second-team all-conference as a return specialist after returning 30 kickoffs for 879 yards and three touchdowns and 14 for 121 yards while also intercepting two passes on defense, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

2018 season

As a sophomore, he was named first-team All-Sun Belt as a return specialist after returning 23 kickoffs for 584 yards and one touchdown and to the second-team as a cornerback after breaking up eight passes with one interception.

Houston

2019 season

After his sophomore season, Jones entered the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool launched on October 15, 2018, to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member i ...

and later announced that he would be transferring to the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

. He would sit out one season and

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

due to NCAA transfer rules, maintaining his junior status for the 2020 season.

2020 season

Jones had 24 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, and one interception on defense during his redshirt junior season. Jones was also named first-team All-

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

as a return specialist after leading the nation with 337 yards on 17 punt returns with one returned for a touchdown.

2021 season

During his redshirt senior season, Jones returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown with 17 seconds left against 19th-ranked SMU to win the game 44–37. To cap off the season he won the

Paul Hornung Award The Paul Hornung Award is a college football award that was created in January 2010 by the Louisville Sports Commission (LSC) with the support of Paul Hornung, a native and resident of Louisville, Kentucky and member of the College Football Hall o ...

, given to the nation's most versatile player, and was selected to the Associated Press All-America first-team as a defensive back. He also won

AAC Special Teams Player of the Year The American Athletic Conference (The American) gives five football awards at the conclusion of every season. The awards were first given in 2013, following the restructuring of the Big East Conference. The awards existed in the same format in the ...

along with being named first-team All-AAC as a return specialist and second-team All-AAC as a cornerback.

College statistics

Professional career

Jones was selected by the

in the third round (85th overall) of the

New England Patriots

2022: First-team All-Pro

In Week 11 against the

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

, Jones returned a game-winning punt return touchdown for 84 yards with just five seconds remaining in the 10–3 win. Jones' touchdown was the first punt return touchdown of the entire 2022 season. In the Patriots' Week 13 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. ...

on Thursday Night Football, Jones scored his first career offensive touchdown on a 48-yard catch-and-run reception, on the first offensive snap of his career. It was the first receiving touchdown from scrimmage by a defensive back since the Jets'

Marcus Coleman Marcus Coleman (born May 24, 1974) is a former American football defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets, Houston Texans and the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Texas Tech University. In 2018, he ...

in 2000, also against the Bills. In the Patriots' Christmas Eve game against the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

, Jones scored on a 69-yard pick six, making him the first player in 45 years to score a touchdown on offense, defense, and special teams in the same season. Jones finished his rookie season with 39 tackles, seven passes defended, and two interceptions on defense. On offense, he had four receptions for 78 yards and one touchdown. He led the NFL with 362 punt return yards and 12.5 yards per punt return with one punt returned for a touchdown while finishing fifth in the league with 645 kick return yards. Jones was named first-team All-Pro as a punt returner by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

2023 season

In Week 2 of the 2023 season, Jones suffered a shoulder injury and was placed on injured reserve on September 22, 2023.

NFL career statistics

;Defense ;Offense and Special Teams

References

External links

New England Patriots bioTroy Trojans bioHouston Cougars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Marcus 1998 births Living people People from Enterprise, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama American football cornerbacks Troy Trojans football players Houston Cougars football players All-American college football players New England Patriots players