OK, let me preface this post that I am simply bringing this up for discussion, I don't by any means think it is gospel. Also, I apologize for the stats not lining up (if anyone has a tip about how to do this please let me know.)
Priest Holmes spent 4 years in Baltimore before moving to KC and stepping into the St. Louis-style offensive Vermeil brought with him and since then I think we can all agree that Holmes has been the epitome of a fantasy stud.
Thomas Jones has been in the league for 4 years and this year will be stepping into a St. Louis-style offense brought to Chicago by Lovie Smith. I decided to look into the numbers and here is what I found...
Size Priest 5'9" 213 lbs.
Jones 5'10" 220 lbs.
First 3 Years in the League Att Yrds Avg TDs Rec Yrds Avg TDs T-Yrds T-TD PH 322 1514 4.7 8 56 364 6.5 0 1878 9
TJ 362 1264 3.5 9 73 472 6.5 1 1736 9
Final Year before St. Louis-style Offense RUSHING GS G Att Yards Avg TDs PH 16 2 137 588 4.3 2
TJ 16 3 137 627 4.6 3
RECEIVING Rec Yards Avg TDs PH 32 221 6.9 0
TJ 24 180 7.5 1
I know a lot of intangibles come into play but keep in mind that there is no doubt of Jones' speed and the Bears picked up Jon Tait in the off-season who has quite a bit of experience in the offense after paving the way for Priest the last few years.
Jones' maturity level is still a MAJOR question but it makes for an interesting debate.
I think TJones could be a pretty huge value pick in the mid rds of a draft this yr. If he can sit Atrain and take 90% of the load, I see a possible top 20 RB. CHI didn sign him to a 4 yr deal so he could backup ATrain either.
It should be interesting to see how he does, but as of now I have TJones near the top of my sleeper list.
BTW - Im not so keen on the Holmes comparisons - but you are right, statistically they are pretty damn even.
EDIT - I just wanted to link this recent thread discussing TJones v Atrain:
Except look at the YPC, Holmes is better by a good 1.2 yards. Other numbers are pretty even, and as a bears fan Id enjoy a Holmes like player on our team!
I agree the YPC is a big adavantage to Holmes and I'm not saying Jones will be the next Reverend by any means, but Holmes was playing for a Baltimore team that built itself a champ in 2001 while Jones was in Arizona.
Priest Holmes was sitting behind a major stud in Jamal Lewis.....who put up 2,000 last year. Jones was sitting behind who?......Shipp (sucks, benched for an 80 yo Emmitt), Pittman (sucks), Alstott (sucks).
Plus I wouldn't even trust the Bear's O-line to serve the Chief's line coffee.
When I saw the title to this thread, I thought it was a joke. After opening it up though, you bring up an interesting point. It still seems a bit crazy, but so would the notion that Priest Holmes would break the season TD total when he went to KC, so ya never know.
I'll admit I wasn't even contemplating taking Thomas Jones before reading this but now if he slips a bit it may be worth taking a midround flier on him.
By the way, you can use the code function to display text with the formatting you type for it:
I saw this and thought it would be a take off or at least mention a heading I saw on yahoo sports that was something like: "Thomas Jone, the 2nd coming of Priest Holmes."
Personally, I think its a bit ridiculous and premature, though I lot of the factors and statistics do coincide. I think that the two big differences however have already been mentioned:
1. Priest had a healthy 4.7 ypc during those year, whereas Thomas had a very Hambrick-ish 3.5
2. Priest was on the bench because of one Jamal Lewis, whereas Jones has been benched in favor of running backs that havent proven themselves worth a starting role, and in fact his toughest competition to date may very well be A-Train. He's had more success than Shipp or Pittman has ever had, and honestly, if he played a full 16 games ever, might not have bad stats in fantasy football (especially with an improved o-line).
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by Portishead » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:28 pm 
