Zay Jones

Jones was born on March 30, 1995 in Dallas, Texas, the son of Robert Jones, a former football player who spent ten years in the NFL, and Maneesha Jones.[1][2] He has two brothers, Cayleb and Levi and his uncle is Jeff Blake.[3][4][5] Jones attended Stephen F. Austin High School in Austin, Texas.[6] He committed to East Carolina University to play college football.[7]

Jones played in 13 games and made eight starts as a true freshman at East Carolina in 2013. He finished second on the team with 62 receptions for 604 yards and five touchdowns.[8] As a sophomore, he had 81 receptions for 830 yards and five touchdowns. As a junior, he recorded 98 receptions for 1,099 yards and five touchdowns.[9] During his senior season in 2016, he set a school record for receptions in a game with 22, breaking the previous record of 17 held by Justin Hardy[10] and then went on to break the school record for receptions in a season, also held by Hardy, nine games into the season. Subsequently, Jones became the NCAA Division I football all-time single season leader in receptions with 158 for the 2016 season, breaking the previous record of 155 set by wide receiver Freddie Barnes of Bowling Green in 2009.[11][12] Additionally, Jones became the NCAA Division I football career leader in receptions with 399, breaking the all-time NCAA record of 387 held by his former ECU Pirate teammate and future NFL receiver Justin Hardy.[13][14] Jones was also named as one of three finalists for the 2016 Biletnikoff Award, which is given annually to the nation's best receiver in college football.[15]

Jones received an invitation to the Senior Bowl and had practiced well during the week leading up to the game. He led both teams and greatly improved his draft stock after making six receptions for 68 receiving yards and a touchdown for the North, who lost 16–15 to the South.[17] He also attended the NFL Combine and completed all the combine and positional drills. Jones also participated at East Carolina's Pro Day, but opted to only run positional drills for team representatives and scouts. The majority of NFL draft experts and analysts projected Jones to be selected in the second round. He was ranked the fourth best wide receiver in the draft by NFL media analyst Mike Mayock, the fifth best wide receiver by ESPN, and was ranked the sixth best wide receiver by Sports Illustrated and NFLDraftScout.com.[18][19][20]

2017

The Buffalo Bills selected Jones in the second round (37th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft.[22] On May 18, the Bills signed Jones to a four-year, $6.77 million contract with $3.84 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $3.07 million.[23]

On September 10, 2017, Jones made his NFL debut. He had one reception for 21 yards in the 21–12 victory over the New York Jets.[24] On September 17, 2017, in Week 2, he barely missed on a potential game-winning pass from quarterback Tyrod Taylor on fourth down late in the game of a 9–3 loss to the Carolina Panthers.[25] In Week 9, against the New York Jets, he recorded six receptions for 53 yards and his first career receiving touchdown.[26] In 15 games (10 starts) of his rookie year in 2017, Jones finished with 316 receiving yards and two touchdowns.[27]

Jones during the 2018 preseason

On March 21, 2018, Jones was arrested in Los Angeles for suspicion of felony vandalism. Jones was involved in an altercation with a man on the 30th floor of an apartment building, with the man seemingly being identified as Jones' older brother, Cayleb. Jones allegedly smashed a window, resulting in cuts on his foot, and tried to jump out, but with Cayleb and police stopping it.[37]

• Buffalo Bills bio
• East Carolina Pirates bio