Browns to hire former Cardinals special teams coach Amos Jones
Jan 19, 2018, 8:18 AM | Updated: 12:37 pm
This is a 2017 photo of Amos Jones of the Arizona Cardinals NFL football team. This image reflects the Arizona Cardinals active roster as of Thursday, May 11, 2017 when this image was taken. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
He may be the only special teams coach in the National Football League with a website urging his firing, but that won’t stop Amos Jones from earning a paycheck in the league in 2018.
The veteran NFL coach will join Hue Jackson’s coaching staff as the special teams coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, according to multiple reports.
He replaces Chris Tabor, who left the Browns to take the same position on Matt Nagy’s staff with the Chicago Bears.
Jones, 58, had been a popular target of ire from Cardinals fans during his five seasons as Arizona’s special teams coordinator under head coach Bruce Arians. That frustration reached a new level during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, during which the Cardinals underachieved woefully in the game’s third phase which contributed to a 15-16-1 record over the two campaigns.
He wasn’t fired, instead his contract expired at the conclusion of the 2017 season.
Jones has been an NFL assistant since 2007 and first became an NFL special teams coordinator with the Steelers in 2012, the year before Arians landed the job in Arizona.
According to ProFootballFocus.com, the Cardinals ranked 31st in the league among special teams units as of Week 13.
Incidentally, Arizona is conducting a second head coaching interview with another longtime NFL special teams coordinator, Keith Armstrong of the Atlanta Falcons on Friday.
