Why is Lions’ WR Marvin Jones leaving football?
Questions were already asked after the wide receiver was left out of Saturday’s game. Now, it seems the situation is more serious than we first thought.
When the Detroit Lions lost their Week 7 clash with the Baltimore Ravens, their pass catcher was not on the field. What’s more, is that he didn’t even travel with the team to Maryland for what turned out to be a one-sided affair.
What do we know about Marvin Jones Jr’s situation?
As mentioned above, Detroit Lions veteran wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. was excluded from the roster on Saturday after the team cited undisclosed personal reasons that were not injury-related. Given that the 33-year-old was a full participant in practices throughout the week, you can imagine the announcement raised some eyebrows. Jones later released a statement on X - formerly known as Twitter - to address the situation.
#Lions WR Marvin Jones Jr. steps away from his team to tend to personal family matters. pic.twitter.com/wMiCha3umB
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 24, 2023
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Speaking with the media, head coach Dan Campbell was understandably asked about the reasons for and duration of Jones’ absence. “Hard to say on that right now,” Campbell said. “It’s just all I can tell you it’s a personal issue. Nothing serious like that, is something going – but it’s just, that’s where it is right now.” Needless to say, this is a blow to the Lions who have got off to a good start this campaign and now sit on a record of 5-2 following their loss to the Ravens. For his part Jones has caught five passes on 10 targets, for a total of 35 receiving yards across the six games that he has played.
Who will replace Marvin Jones Jr?
With Jones now out indefinitely, and the Lions set to face the Las Vegas Raiders next, the team will have to choose between rookie Antoine Green and second-year wideout Jameson Williams, both of whom will be expected to do better than they have so far, in that neither has caught a pass in seven combined targets for the season so far.