Many Happy Returns

When the Carolina Panthers signed Mark Jones one week before the regular season opener to return punts, many viewed him as a stopgap until Ryne Robinson was healthy enough to return.

And perhaps that was true at the time.

But with Robinson unable to return from a knee injury and out for the year, the job now belongs to Jones full-time.

And that’s not such a bad thing.

Through five games, Jones has averaged a very respectable 10.2 yards per punt return, which ranks 12th in the NFL and is yard-and-a-half better than Robinson’s average last season.

Outside of one blunder against San Diego where he misread a punt and let it hit him in the back of the leg – nearly resulting in a turnover – Jones has looked extremely reliable. On kicks inside the 10, he’s disguised catching the ball well, resulting in a few touchbacks — the sign of smart, veteran returner.

The best thing about Jones, 27, is he seems to look better with each passing week as he becomes more comfortable with the players blocking for him.

He’s coming off his best game last week against Kansas City, returning five punts for 68 yards. As a bonus, he played some wide receiver after D.J. Hackett went down and caught his first NFL pass, a pretty 19-yard reception on third-and-17 to help move the chains.

“He’s done a tremendous job,” coach John Fox said. “He’s come in and he’s learned quickly. Being a guy who is going to get a jersey on Sundays because of his return ability, we’ve had to rely on him some at receiver, too. And you saw that last week. He found the soft spot in the zone, a pretty aware play, and he made a nice grab. So he’s been a pleasant surprise.”

As Fox pointed out, returning punts in the NFL is more complicated than just catching the ball and running with it.

“There are a lot of little things,” Fox said. “Sometimes it doesn’t look like it, but there are plays on returns. There are things to pick up. And he’s a sharp guy who hasn’t struggled at all.”

Jones’ story is all the more amazing considering he tore his left patella tendon last October while playing for Tampa Bay.

It was horrible timing considering he was due to become an unrestricted free agent after the ’07 season. With concerns over his knee, the Bucs didn’t re-sign him.

He signed with San Diego in June but failed to earn a roster spot, losing out to one of the league’s top returners in Darren Sproles.

The Panthers saw enough from Jones in the preseason to take a flier on him with Robinson down.

“Is it better than my other knee? No, it’s not,” Jones said of his recovery. “It is good enough to where I can do everything I did last year. The strength is not there, but as far as me thinking and being hesitant, I don’t have that anymore. Apprehension, none of that, is there.”

This is a special week for Jones, who spent his first four seasons in Tampa Bay after coming into the league as a seventh-round draft pick from Tennessee in 2004.

“I’m not going to worry who’s in the stands watching me and who’s up in the offices watching me,” Jones said. “They made their decision and I have to live with that…. I knew how I was going to turn out, but they didn’t know. They had to make moves and better their team. They made those moves and I can’t do anything about that.”