Jack Jones Injury: Patriots Reportedly Could Miss Corner For ‘Months’

The prognosis on New England Patriots cornerback Jack Jones’ hamstring injury is getting worse by the hour.

Jones suffered the injury during Wednesday’s practice leading up to Sunday’s season-opening matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles. It became evident that he’d miss time fairly quickly, with a timeline of at least four games becoming clear once the Patriots placed him on injured reserve Saturday afternoon.

That’s looking like a best-case scenario, however, as Jones reportedly could miss “upwards of two months,” according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic.

Howe had the initial report that Jones would miss time, while also noting that a trip to IR was likely. That prognostication rang true, and the Patriots will now be tasked with figuring things out at cornerback for the first half of the season.

It’s a first half that will present plenty of matchup nightmares for New England, which will face top-flight wide receivers like the Eagles duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, the Miami’s duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle (twice), Garrett Wilson of the New York Jets, CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys, Las Vegas Raiders stud Davante Adams and Stefon Diggs who has killed the Patriots as a member of the Buffalo Bills.

The Patriots are set up to have enough bodies, but the injury will essentially thrust rookie Christian Gonzalez into one of the two starting outside cornerback spots with Jonathan Jones, while Marcus Jones and Myles Bryant take the majority of snaps in the slot. Shaun Wade and Jalen Mills are also options on the outside, but would ideally play in the slot and at safety, respectively.

Jones appeared to receive a second lease on his career, gun charges stemming from his mid-June arrest at Logan Airport were dropped on Tuesday. Instead, he would suffer an injury just one day later, while the NFL reportedly is still investigating his arrest — leaving the 25-year-old susceptible to punishment from the league.