Byron Jones at the NFL Draft: The ‘Mayor’ Makes the Leap
It is rarely news when NFL prospects rise and fall during the five months of poking and prodding that occurs between their final college game and the draft, but every so often a player is so impressive during that period that football fans can’t help but wonder what he’ll do next.
Case in point: University of Connecticut cornerback Byron Jones, who may have pulled off the biggest turnaround (and turned the most heads) in this year’s pre-draft process.
A two-star recruit coming out of high school, Jones was able to land a scholarship with the Huskies and spent his first two seasons playing safety. Eventually, Jones was asked to move to corner – and that’s when things really started to take off. However, it wasn’t until the 2015 NFL Scouting Combine that Jones went from being a potential seventh-round pick to someone who could hear his name called on day one.
That’s because Jones not only broke the combine record in the broad jump at 12-feet, 3-inches – he also set a world record with the mark (it’s still unofficial, but, like, how many world records have you ever set?) Beyond that, Jones jumped 44.5″ in the vertical leap, which is only half-an-inch shy of tying the record, then ran a 4.36 40-yard dash at the UConn pro day.
With that one leap in February, Jones also jumped up NFL big boards ahead of this week’s draft. As he prepares for the next phase of his career, Rolling Stone caught up with the UConn corner to discuss his soaring stock, why size matters in the pros and just how he came to be known as “Mayor Jones”.
What has life been like since the combine?
It’s been great! It’s been fun talking to coaches and scouts in the NFL. I’ve been enjoying it. A lot of my friends who have already been through this process say the main idea is to enjoy it. So I’ve been enjoying the attention I’ve been getting.
Did you have any idea you were going to jump that far?
[Laughs] Uh, I knew I was going to jump far, but I had no idea I was going to jump over 12 feet. I was tying the record every time in training – I never got over 11’7″ – but I think it was just a combination of a big stage and being in front of all the coaches and big-time scouts that got the adrenaline going and I jumped as far as I could. I landed at 12’3″ and I was as surprised as everyone else!
Do you remember your thoughts when you found out it might actually be the world record, not just the combine record?
Well, coming into it I had no idea what the world record was. I didn’t even care about it; I was just going for the combine record. But it’s really cool to hold that honor. It’s still unofficial but that’s OK, I don’t care. It’s cool to hold that honor.
So after that, were you disappointed you didn’t get the combine record in the vertical?
A little bit, ’cause I didn’t realize I was that close. I saw Chris [Conley] jump 45″ and I was like, “Wow!” [laughs] I thought maybe I’d get 42, maybe 43. They don’t tell you the number until you’re done and when they said 44.5, I was like, “Awww, man.” It’s fine though; I gave it all I got, it’s not like I held up or anything. I jumped as high as I could.
So you’re a pretty competitive person?
Oh, I’m extremely competitive. Like I said, when I got my vertical and I saw that I had 44.5, I was pretty salty about it. But sometimes you just gotta let it go. It’s a big jump regardless, but I still want to beat Chris. We trained together, we knew we were both jumpin’ out the gym. I wanted to jump a little bit further, but he got me on that one.