Running back Matt Jones has not taken part in Organized Team Activities this offseason after reportedly being told by members of the Redskins coaching staff that he’s not in the team’s plans for the 2017 season.
Given previous word that the team was shopping Jones in a trade and a depth chart that features Rob Kelley, Chris Thompson and rookie Samaje Perine, that didn’t qualify as a particularly shocking revelation. It’s not one that head coach Jay Gruden is willing to sign onto at this point, however.
Gruden was asked on Wednesday if he expected Jones to return to the team and he lumped him in with other players who aren’t at OTAs while definitely remaining in the team’s plans.
“I hope so,” Gruden said in comments distributed by the team. “I expect him to be. He’s on our roster, he’s eating up a spot. We all know that this is voluntary, so there’s really nothing that we can do. We’d like everybody to be here without a doubt, but at the end of the day, Jordan Reed is in Miami working out, Trent [Williams] is working out in Oklahoma, Matt Jones chose not to be here, so we obviously want people to work together and learn together, but it is voluntary at the end of the day.”
The state of the depth chart and his spot on the inactive list for the second half of last season makes it easy to believe that Jones would prefer to be elsewhere, but there’s no pressure for the team to make a move now and the possibility of an injury to another back gives little impetus for them to rush a departure.