The Bears selected Jones as a future choice in the 1953 NFL Draft. It proved to be an insightful move because later that year Jones earned consensus All-America honors with Maryland's 1953 championship team. Jones, who was born November 24, 1931, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, started with the 1954 Bears as an offensive tackle.

He switched to guard in 1955 and, for the next eight seasons, was a fixture at that position and one of the NFL's most highly respected guards. For most of those years, he was the Bears' offensive captain. Jones possessed size, quickness and strength. He was one of the first pro football players to concentrate on a weight-lifting program to build him into playing condition. A good pass blocker and respected as a pulling guard, Jones was disciplined and dependable.

He missed only two games his first 11 seasons. He was an All-NFL guard in 1955, 1956, 1959, and 1960 and played in seven straight Pro Bowls following the 1955 through 1961 seasons. When the Bears needed help on their defensive unit in 1962, assistant coach George Allen decided that Jones, with size and game intelligence, could help at defensive tackle.

Jones played both ways in 1962 and then switched to defensive tackle permanently in 1963. That year, the Bears marched to the NFL championship on the strength of an outstanding defensive platoon. After his 12th season in 1965, Bears coach George Halas agreed, as a favor to Jones, to trade him to the Washington Redskins so that he could play a final season near his home in Rockville, Maryland. Jones retired after the 1966 season.

Football, Hall of Fame