Tag: Taiwan Jones

Bills salary cap update after start of free agency

The Buffalo Bills current salary cap situation following the first wave of free agency.

The dust has settled after a thrilling start to the league’s new year for the Buffalo Bills.

Buffalo’s groundbreaking move to acquire wide receiver Stefon Diggs from Minnesota was just the beginning of an active start for the club. The Bills went on to re-sign guard Quinton Spain while signing free agents Quinton Jefferson, Vernon Butler, AJ Klein, Mario Addison, Josh Norman, Tyler Matakevich, and Taiwan Jones.

The club extended the contract of Jordan Poyer, as the safety signed a two-year, $19.5 million contract to keep the standout in Western New York through 2022.

The Bills entered the free agency period with approximately $78 million in cap space. After all of the deals, they have approximately $32.5 million remaining in space below the cap maximum, according to Spotrac.

Approximately $4 million of the cap space will be dedicated to the team’s draft picks this April.

Buffalo’s cap space is also buoyed by rolling over some of their cap space from last season into this year’s figures.

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Report: Bills expected to bring back RB Taiwan Jones

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, running back and special teamer Taiwan Jones is signing back on with the Bills again. Jones, 31, previously played for the Bills in 2017 and 2018. 

The Buffalo Bills are expected to bring back a familiar face, for both good and bad reasons.

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, running back and special teamer Taiwan Jones is signing back on with the Bills again. Jones, 31, previously played for the Bills in 2017 and 2018.

But the Bills let him go, and it cost them dearly.

Remember Buffalo’s playoff loss to the Texans? Quarterback Deshaun Watson spun out of a would-be sack by linebacker Matt Milano, who dumped off a pass to a running back. That back took the ball into field goal range.

That back was Jones:

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcDhuFjffJc&w=560&h=315]

For his career, Jones has 223 rushing yards and 19 catches, one of which went for a score. As a special teamer, he has 62 career tackles.

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Four former MSU Football players are on XFL rosters to start season

Michigan State has four former players who will are on active rosters in the XFL to start the season.

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With the NFL season now complete, you know what that means! It’s XFL time baby! No, seriously, it’s XFL time. For the first time in 20 years, the XFL will kick off with a newly redesigned league on February 8th. MSU Football had six players drafted back in October, and of those, four of them are on rosters to start the season.

Here is every former Michigan State player who will be lacing up cleats for the XFL this season:

  • QB Connor Cook, Houston Roughnecks
  • LB Taiwan Jones, Los Angeles Wildcats
  • S Demetrious Cox, New York Guardians
  • WR Keith Mumphery, St. Louis Battlehawks

Note: Kurtis Drummond and Miguel Machado were both drafted, but are currently not listed on any rosters.

It’s definitely an interesting group of players, headlined by former Big Ten Quarterback of the Year Connor Cook. Cook was a fourth-round draft pick of the Raiders who since bounced around the league, never seeming to find a place, for one reason or another. He is currently listed as the backup for the Roughnecks and former Temple quarterback Philip Walker…

Former Third Team All-Big Ten safety Demetrious Cox also spent some time on a few different NFL teams but will now try his hand in Vince McMahon’s league.

Taiwan Jones played a couple games for the New York Jets back in 2015-16, but never really stuck in the NFL. He recently had tried out for WWE but now will look to find a fit with their sister organization in the XFL.

Keith Mumphery had, without a doubt, the most successful NFL career of anyone on this list, playing 27 games with the Houston Texans. However, Mumphery was released from the Texans after a report came out about an alleged sexual assault while he was at Michigan State. He should be the most impactful former Spartan playing in the XFL this season if Connor Cook remains the backup.

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2019 Texans position review: Running backs

The Houston Texans’ season is over. Despite not making it to the Super Bowl, they got good production from rushers Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson.

The Houston Texans’ season is over. After finishing 10-6, they found themselves in the divisional round of the NFL Playoffs, only to lose a 24-0 lead to the Kansas City Chiefs, who moved on by winning in 51-31 fashion.

With the season now over for the Texans, let’s take a gander at the running back position group.

The Texans entered the season with Pro Bowler Lamar Miller as the presumed starter. However, a torn ACL in the preseason ended that thought process. Despite so, Houston got production out of a running back room that they built in August.

Before the season started, the Texans acquired Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson in trades from the Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns, respectively. The acquisitions proved to be good ones for Houston, as both produced in a big way.

Hyde led the Texans’ ground attack, recording his best season in the NFL in the process. The 29-year-old tallied 1,070 yards and six touchdowns on 4.4 yards per carry; first, second and second in his NFL career, respectively.

Hyde acted as Houston’s power back, seeing most of his snaps on first and second down. Though a free agent in March, he stated after the defeat in Kansas City that he wants to come back.

Johnson was complementary back in the Texans backfield, seeing snaps as both a runner and receiver. He recorded 820 scrimmage yards and five total touchdowns on the season, seeing 83 rush attempts and 44 receptions.

Johnson, 26, will be back in Houston in 2020 after the Texans sent a third-round selection to acquire him. He is under contract through the 2021 season.

Taiwan Jones and Buddy Howell round-out the group. Both played most of their snaps on special teams. However, Jones made, perhaps, the most clutch play of the season for the Texans, a 34-yard reception in the wild-card round to set up a game-winning field goal in overtime to beat the Buffalo Bills.

Bill O’Brien’s coaching staff brought back the fullback in 2019, drafting former Texas A&M 12th man Cullen Gillaspia in the seventh-round. The rookie played minimal snaps on offense but was a standout on special teams. In the playoffs, he had a lead-block to help Deshaun Watson get to the endzone against the Bills on a 20-yard run.

Johnson, Howell and Gillaspia will return in 2020 if they aren’t released or traded. Expect the Texans to either resign Hyde, go after a different tailback in free agency or draft a rusher in April.

Taiwan Jones, who caught pass after Deshaun Watson’s miracle escape, is a former Bill

Incredibly, the Texans’ Taiwan Jones, who caught the pass after Deshaun Watson’s escape, is a former Buffalo Bill.

Deshaun Watson’s escape against the Buffalo Bills in overtime was miraculous. Almost as incredible is the person who caught the pass, Taiwan Jones, the running back you haven’t heard of that has been in the NFL since 2011.

Who on earth is Taiwan Jones, you ask?

  • Jones signed with Eastern Washington in 2007 as a cornerback and was redshirted. Jones started four games at cornerback in 2008 after missing much of the first part of the season with a broken fibula suffered in the first week of preseason practices.
  • Jones, who rushed for 1,742 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2010, despite missing three games due to injury, was the rare Football Championship Subdivision talent to forgo his senior year for the NFL, per Spokesman.com.
  • He was clocked in the 40-yard dash by NFL scouts with times ranging from 4.25 to 4.35 seconds during his 2011 pro day and eventually drafted in the fourth round by the Oakland Raiders.

Jones played six years for the Raiders before signing with — wait for it — the Buffalo Bills in 2017. He was named a special-teams captain in 2018. He can be found on Youtube for taking a brutal hit after losing his helmet against the Chargers in 2018,

Of course, to make the story come full circle, Jones signed with the Houston Texans before the 2019 season.

There could not have been a less likely target for Watson, leading to one of the most unlikely heroes in NFL playoff history on the receiving end of the 34-yard reception and run.

Jones had one catch in the regular season for a grand total of  nine yards. He has three catches over the last three seasons for 20 yards, targeted a total of five times. The most receptions Jones had in a season came in 2015 with Oakland when he caught seven passes for 106 yards and his lone NFL TD catch. The 31-year-old has 19 catches in his NFL career. Primarily a special-teams player, Jones was on the field for 14 offensive snaps in the regular season.

The 6-0, 195-pounder thought he was going to end the overtime contest.

“I thought I was going to score,” said Jones, who went for his number, 34 yards on the play. “But I was definitely excited and, like I said, it was more of a great play by Deshaun. I don’t know how he got free, but he did and he made a play.”

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

 

 

Ex-Texans CB Kevin Johnson showed QB Deshaun Watson a tell on 34-yard pass to RB Taiwan Jones

Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson says that Buffalo Bills CB Kevin Johnson showed him a tell on the 34-yard overtime pass to RB Taiwan Jones.

Buffalo Bills cornerback Kevin Johnson spent four seasons with the Houston Texans as he was their former 2015 first-round pick. Of course, he would have knowledge on his old team.

However, his old quarterback had knowledge on him, and it came into play on the 34-yard pass to running back Taiwan Jones that setup Ka’imi Fairbairn’s game-winning 28-yard field goal in overtime of the AFC wild-card Saturday evening at NRG Stadium.

“I knew it was blitz 0,” Watson told Lisa Salters of ESPN after the game. “I checked the play. Kevin Johnson was here last year, so he knew the signal, seen him bail, and I just told myself to stay up.”

Watson shed two would-be sacks from Bills defenders and scrambled out to his right where he found Jones, whose 34-yard reception was more to do with his yards after the catch than Watson’s air yards.

Nonetheless, they would not have been possible if the two-time Pro Bowl quarterback had not stayed upright.

“It’s do or die right now, and all the work I put in in the offseason, I just had to make a play,” said Watson.

According to the former 2017 first-round draft pick from Clemson, he left little cards in the lockers of his teammates prior to the playoff game. On each card it said, “Let’s be great today.”

Said Watson: “So, somebody had to be great today. Why not me?”

Watson finished completing 20-of-25 for 247 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed 14 times for 55 yards and a score.

Because of Watson’s efforts to be great against the Bills, the Texans are in the divisional round of the playoffs for the fourth time in franchise history. The results of the Tennessee Titans versus New England Patriots wild-card bout on Saturday night determine whether the Texans travel to Baltimore to face the Ravens or go to Kansas City to play the Chiefs.

WATCH: Texans QB Deshaun Watson sheds two sacks to setup game-winning field goal

Watch Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson drill a 34-yard pass while shrugging off two defenders to beat the Buffalo Bills.

Call it a Deshaun Watson moment. The quarterback compared to Michael Jordan certainly had a Kodak Moment on Saturday night.

On second-and-6, with the Houston Texans tied with the Buffalo Bills at 19 in overtime, Watson made the improbable probable. The third-year quarterback evaded two sacks, pinpointed a ball to running back Taiwan Jones and saw the Texans drive 34 yards down the field to set-up a game-winning field goal.

Watch below. Watson pulls off a play that he can only pull-off.

A moment that will forever live in Texans’ history.

One play later, Houston saught to end the game there. Ka’imi Fairbairn ran out with the special teams unit and drilled a 28-yard field goal to get the Texans to advance to the first round of the playoffs.

Watson got his redemption after last year’s embarrassing 21-7 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in the wild card round. Now, he’s a playoff winner seeking to have more to his name.

WATCH: Deshaun Watson magical escape to set up Texans’ winning field goal

Deshaun Watson pulled off a miracle escape that led to the Texans’ OT win over the Bills.

Deshaun Watson went into his bag of magic tricks and came up with a play that set up the Houston Texans’ game-winning field goal in Saturday’s 22-19 overtime win against the Buffalo Bills.

Watson was going to be sacked, had to be sacked and somehow escaped the grasp of the Bills’ defenders before finding Taiwan Jones. The veteran running back from Eastern Michigan took who wears No. 34 took the ball 34 yards to set up Ka’imi Fairbairn.

And then, there is this look:

Earlier, he connected with Duke Johnson on a third-and-18 to keep the drive alive.

It has come to be what Watson delivers over and over.

 

Texans RB Taiwan Jones downgraded to out versus the Titans

Houston Texans running back Taiwan Jones was downgraded to out shortly before the team left for Tennessee for their Week 15 game with the Titans.

The Houston Texans will be down a running back as they play the Tennessee Titans Sunday at noon CT at Nissan Stadium for Week 15

Running back Taiwan Jones, who was listed as questionable and was limited all week in practice with a hamstring injury, was downgraded to out. The 31-year-old will not be making the trip to Nashville.

If there is a silver lining to this information, it is that outside linebacker Brennan Scarlett and receiver Will Fuller are on the flight from Houston to the Music City. Both Scarlett (shoulder) and Fuller (hamstring) were similarly listed as questionable for the game and have also been limited participants in practice. The Texans will decide 90 minutes before kickoff on Sunday whether or not these two players are ready to go against the Titans.

The Titans have already ruled out cornerback Adoree Jackson (foot), receiver Adam Humphries (ankle), and linebacker Daren Bates (shoulder) for the game.

Texans-Broncos inactives: Will Fuller out again

The Houston Texans announced their inactives ahead of their Week 14 tilt with the Denver Broncos, and receiver Will Fuller was one of them.

The Houston Texans announced their inactives ahead of their Week 14 encounter with the Denver Broncos Sunday at noon CT at NRG Stadium.

Receiver Will Fuller (hamstring) was one of the first inactives. He had been limited throughout practice all week.

Houston also declared RB Taiwan Jones (hamstring), DE Carlos Watkins (hamstring), CB Cornell Armstrong, S Mike Adams, WR Steven Mitchell, and NT Eddie Vanderdoes inactive for the game.

Denver declared WR Juwann Winfree, CB Shakial Taylor, C Patrick Morris, OLB Malik Reed, G Ron Leary, OT Calvin Anderson, and DL Jonathan Harris inactive for the game.