I have stated previously (and still believe) we gave up way too early on Matt Jones. Most RBs will hit a stretch early on where they struggle in some area or another, whether it's holding onto the ball, pass-catching, blocking, finding the hole, whatever... I think that talent-wise Jones has been treated as if he were lower-tier talent when, in fact, he's quite talented.
I have to believe that his biggest limitation must be his attitude.
When Gruden benched him, I believe he expected to see Jones re-double his efforts, commit to improving and solving his fumbling issues, demonstrate resolve to work harder and get better. All I can assume is that Gruden didn't see those things. Although I haven't seen a lot of openly negative commentary attributed to Jones, something clearly is wrong and he's somehow convinced Gruden that he's a bad apple. And it's possible he is a bad apple.
It's hard to reconcile McCloughan's assessment with what we've seen so far from Jones though (aside from a few impressive showings a few years back). It's almost as if McCloughan is unwilling or unable to admit that Jones is fatally flawed and that he was a blown pick. It's easy to throw out 'he's the best back they have' when you know there's little to no chance that proposition is going to be proven or disproven when Jones has zero chance of seeing the field.
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