Cardale Jones struggles badly against New Orleans Saints

Los Angeles Chargers backup quarterback Cardale Jones struggled badly against the New Orleans Saints in a preseason matchup…

The Los Angeles Chargers made a move this offseason to get Cardale Jones from the Buffalo Bills, a move that should be applauded as Jones is a player with great physical skill that is in need of development as a quarterback.

So far, Jones has shown flashes of his ability, but has yet to show great progression in terms of on-field processing and having an internal clock as a quarterback with the rush bearing down.

Against the New Orleans Saints in a preseason matchup, Jones sort of put that all on display.

If you click the link and pull up the video of Jones, you’ll see basically a full scouting report of what Jones is in one small sample size of throws and snaps.

Primarily, he’s taking snaps out of the shotgun. That’s no surprise at all, as Jones is still less than two years removed from operating Urban Meyer’s offense at Ohio State. With the Chargers, Jones isn’t able to just make one read and sling the ball. He’s got to go through progressions, read a defense before the snap, and adjust protection so he can manipulate.

That didn’t happen in this snap.

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The expectation for Jones at this point is not to be Tom Brady or Matt Ryan, but you’d like to see him showing better against the third-team defense of New Orleans.

Here, he’s taking too many sacks (partly the fault of a very bad right tackle, granted), and is also missing receivers with poor accuracy.

That said, you can’t ignore the ease with which Jones throws the football. If he is able to fire from a clean pocket, there’s probably not many quarterbacks in the league with a stronger arm. But like we’ve seen in the past with guys like Kyle Boller and Jamarcus Russell among many others, having a strong arm does not equate to NFL success.

Jones has to continue to develop in terms of his ability to study defenses, and manipulate based on tendencies. He has to recognize obvious blitzes before the snap so he can find open holes in the coverage he’s facing.

There’s still clearly a long way to go for Jones, who shouldn’t be considered a roster lock in Los Angeles at this point. The final two remaining preseason games will be big for him.