New RB Jones a popular man on reporting day

Playing catchup at the start of training camp. It happens every summer and takes a few days to get things lined up.

New running back Kevin Jones has been a popular man on campus. Jones is expected to begin the summer on the physically unable to perform list as he rehabs his way back from the ACL injury he suffered in December.

“Hopefully I can come in and get the starting job and be the Bears running back,” Jones said. “But right now it’s come in and show that I’m healthy. That’s the No. 1 goal, and then I’ll go from there.”

Jones admitted the decision of when he will be able to practice probably isn’t up to him. The Bears are going to monitor him closely.

We checked in with running backs coach Tim Spencer for his thoughts on the newcomer:

“You know what I remember when I had to do my legwork for him for the draft and I liked Kevin coming out of college. When he got to the Lions I really thought that he had stepped his game up considerably from college. I thought that he was a lot more physical. He ran fine. I had no problem with his running. My question coming out of college was whether he would block or hit somebody. He kind of dispelled that the first year when I saw him at the Lions. It was definitely a good pickup for us.

“We just hope and pray that everything goes right for him and us. It could end up being a heck of an acquisition.”

And on a timetable for Jones getting on the field?

“I don’t know that we have any set timetable for him,” Spencer said. “He’ll be ready when he’s ready and I am sure that we will take good care of him. We’ll be fine un til he gets going and then when he gets thrown in the mix it can’t do anything but make us better. I think it will make us better even when he’s not out there running because the guys know, `Hey, we’ve got a guy who’s played here and has gained some yards and had some success in the league who is waiting in the wings and is hungry.”’

Have to work on some stuff for tomorrow’s edition. We’ll have the blog running on a more consistent basis soon.