The Arizona Cardinals have one position on their offensive line that’s a bit up in the air.
Veteran new addition Brian Winters is the projected starting right guard on the unofficial depth chart, but he’s missed over a week of practice. Justin Murray, the projected second right guard, has missed over a week as well.
That leaves the right tackle now converted to right guard Josh Jones, 2020 third-round pick, with ample opportunity to make a name for himself. His audition starts on Friday night against the Dallas Cowboys in Arizona’s home-opener preseason game.
Why Arizona Chose Jones in 2020
Jones coming out of Houston was not on the same level of prospects as Tristan Wirfs, Mekhi Becton, Andrew Thomas and Jedrick Wills in 2020.
The upside was always there with Jones. The Draft Network’s Jordan Reid believed in his athletic abilities.
But Jones impressed many at the Senior Bowl, where he was named Senior Bowl “practice player of the week”.
Cardinals offensive line coach Sean Kugler believed in his abilities and loved his IQ for the game. Memorizing offensive line schemes was a pretty great test that Jones succeeded during the NFL combine.
In February of 2021, Kugler told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM that he saw the flexibility in Jones that at first wasn’t apparent coming out of college.
“I thought he handled his rookie year extremely well, not only on the field but in the room. I saw a lot of growth,” said Kugler. “He’s a very talented young man who likes football. He offers position flexibility. He could play tackle, he could play guard. We’ll see where that goes as we get into the offseason.”
Transition to New Position
Jones was drafted to be a right tackle. With Winters and Murray out, the move to right guard was inevitable. The Cardinals wanted to see how he’d look. It’s been off to a good start according to Coach Kliff Kingsbury.
“Josh Jones is a guy who hopped in there, he’s getting lots of reps which is what we wanted to see,” said Kingsbury. “He’s played outside a ton, so sliding him to right guard will be great for him moving forward. We know Justin (Murray) will be back, we know Brian (Winters) will be back hopefully soon. We’re really feeling like it’s a great opportunity for him to get some guard play.”
Jones lacks experience, something Winters and Murray has. But health-wise? Jones has that on both of them at the moment.
Jones understands how different the position can be.
“Well, those guys inside are a little bit bigger. They’re a little bit heavier. So everything happens ‘right now’ at guard,” said Jones. “The tackles, the three-techs are coming at you ‘right now,’ so you don’t really have the time to take a set like at tackle. But it’s just getting your hands on them quick. I got good feet. I move my feet well in there, and I move well in space. So it’s been a good change for me.”
Jones only played in 13 games in 2020. If and when Winters and Murray come back before Week 1, the decision could already be made that Jones will be a backup for both RG and RT. But if someone struggles or gets hurt in this long 17 game season, Jones should be put to the task.
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