Former Lions wide receiver Marvin Jones has found new levels of dysfunction in Jacksonville

Marvin Jones experienced plenty of dysfunction toward the end of his time with the Lions, but he has found a higher level of it in Jacksonville this year.

Over his final three seasons as a Detroit Lion, wide receiver Marvin Jones experienced plenty of dysfunction with Matt Patricia running the show as head coach. But he remained productive, setting or tying career-highs in catches (76) and touchdowns (nine) in 2020, with the second-best yardage total of his career (978).

But as the Lions shifted into a true rebuild last offseason, the well-respected veteran landed with the Jacksonville Jaguars on a two-year, $12.5 million free agent deal.

Since a bye in Week 7, Jones has topped 50 yards just once in six games. He has still been on the field plenty (at least 83 percent of the snaps in every game of that stretch), but the production and usage just hasn’t been there since he had over 50 yards and/or a touchdown in four of the first six games this season.

Marvin Jones thought he knew dysfunction before he met Urban Meyer

To the surprise of exactly no one, the Jaguars are struggling in Urban Meyer’s first season as head coach as he also struggles with the nuances of being an NFL head coach. On Saturday morning, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero offered some new specifics on the dysfunction Meyer is leading. One of the nuggets Pelissero offered mentioned Jones specifically.

"Receiver Marvin Jones — one of the locker room’s most respected and mild-mannered veterans — became so angry with Meyer’s public and private criticism of the receiver group that he left the facility until other staff members convinced him to come back and had a heated argument with Meyer during practice."

Our friends over at Pride of Detroit hit the nail on the head.

It’s unclear exactly when over the past two weeks (per Pelissero) Jones seemed ready to quit and had an argument with Meyer at practice. But it doesn’t matter. Meyer pushed, as Pelissero put it, “one of the locker room’s most respected and mild-mannered veterans” to his breaking point.

In other words, Jones is someone who can probably get others on board with your program if you’re credible and treat players like adults (the latter is something Meyer is apparently struggling with after lording over college kids for years–again, no surprise).

Jones surely regrets signing with the Jaguars. But the final year of his contract is palatable for the Jaguars to get out of in the offseason, and not necessarily hard for another team to take on in a trade. An offseason reunion with the Lions shouldn’t be totally ruled out.