Friend of the site, D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reported Tuesday that Falcons rookie wide receiver was able to take part in his first offseason workout with his teammates.
This news is significant for a number of reasons, but mainly because of the small setback Jones had earlier in the year. During February's NFL Combine, Jones performed all the drills with a stress fracture in his foot. While not a devastating injury, Jones was very impressive during his Combine workout even with the injury — enough to cause the Falcons to slide up 21 spots in the 2011 NFL Draft to snag him.
Ledbetter writes that Jones was cleared to run last week, but he has been taking it slow. During a team workout this week, Jones jogged through a couple of drills, but spent most of his time picking the brains of quarterbacks Matt Ryan and former Alabama teammate John Parker Wilson about the Falcons' playbook, Ledbetter wrote.
"They just told me to take it very slow. That's what I'm going to do. I'm not coming out here to run full speed today. I'm going to jog a couple of routes and catch a couple of balls," Jones told Ledbetter on Tuesday.
Jones having a chance to workout now is important. First of all, he gets a chance to mesh with his new teammates, which is always an important part of progressing in the NFL. Secondly, he gets a jump on learning the playbook, which is arguably the hardest part about being a rookie.
Ledbetter points out that there's a familiarity with the offense since Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was the offensive coordinator under Alabama head coach Nick Saban when Saban was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. That's got to help a lot in getting an understanding of his responsibilities.
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