Brett Jones

The Giants' newest offensive lineman Brett Jones received rave reviews from his former position coach and CFL teammates.

(Photo Courtesy of Stampeders.com)

It is often said that the smartest players on the field in the NFL reside on the offensive line, which is good news for the Giants' newest signee Brett Jones. Jones is not the most physically imposing offensive lineman, so his intelligence on and off the field will likely be his meal ticket to an NFL career.

"He has the mind of an offensive coordinator, he knows what's going on with the quarterback, the receivers, he knows formations, he knows coverages on defenses, he's like the quarterback of the offensive line, and I think that's what kind of separates him apart from some other players," said Billy Peach, an offensive lineman and former teammate of Jones on the Calgary Stampeders.

This assessment of Jones sounds strikingly similar to the description of the job that he will have in the NFL. Jones is a natural center, which means he will be responsible for knowing and adjusting protections along the offensive line based on what coverage and scheme the defense is running, in addition to snapping the ball quickly enough to get his hands on the massive nose tackle in front of him.

It's one of the most mentally demanding jobs on the field, but as an aspiring medical school student who studied petroleum engineering at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Jones clearly has the intellectual capacity to stick at the pro level. In fact, one could argue that being a center in the CFL requires even more of a nimble mind than at the NFL, due to the constant pre-snap movement on both sides of the ball.

"The offenses, the motions, the receivers are constantly moving, which means the defense constantly moves as well," said Pat DelMonaco, Jones' offensive line coach with the Stampeders. "[Jones] has a good understanding of how the formation dictates 'force' players, and how to reset the points of protection, how to move the protection, and the run game. A lot of what's done by a quarterback in the NFL, because the play clock is so much longer, you don't have the waggled motion, you can actually stop your cadence, here you can't do that so your center has to have a good understanding of that."

Jones' fellow lineman Shane Bergman, an offensive tackle, took note of how quickly Jones picked up the CFL playbook, to the point where he could make checks and coverage reads like a quarterback.

"When [Jones] came in his first year, he picked up the playbook and learned the whole playbook within a week, he's that kind of guy," Bergman said. "He was making calls that veteran centers in the CFL make three, four years in, he was making his first week in. He catches on pretty quick to things like that."

That's not to say that there won't be a significant learning curve for Jones' NFL transition. For one thing, he'll be lining up practically nose-to-nose with the defensive line as opposed to the CFL, where there is a full yard between the line of scrimmage and the defense.

At 6-2, 318 pounds, Jones is also somewhat undersize for the center position, though it should be noted that he's only slightly shorter than his Giants teammates Weston Richburg and J.D. Walton, both natural centers, and he outweighs both of them. Still, Jones is not a player who is going to jump off the page as a physical specimen.

"You've gotta get past what he looks like when he walks in a room," DelMonaco said. "He's 6-2 and he doesn't have the longest of limbs, so he's not going to pass your eye test when he walks in the room. But if he's given an honest chance, his play will show that he's worth the opportunity."

However, Jones' fellow Stampeders linemates did not think their ex-teammate's size would be an impediment to NFL success. Peach noted that Jones would hold his own in college practices at Regina lining up across from future NFL defensive end Akiem Hicks (now with the Saints), while Bergman said that Jones' wingspan is better than advertised.

"He gets leverage on almost every player he plays against with," Bergman said. "He's a little bit shorter, he's about 6-2, but his arms are deceivingly long, when I did drills with him, I did drills with him all year, and I'm 6-7 with almost a 7 foot wingspan and his arms are plenty long, comparable to mine and I'm four inches taller. He's got incredible power in his hips and he gets good hand placement on defensive linemen."

Jones' teammates and coach also praised his leadership skills, a rarity for a player only two years into his football career. DelMonaco called him "very coachable," sharing that Jones had no problem sliding over to replace one of their starting guards who went down with an injury this past season, rather than throw an untested rookie into the fire.

"In our locker room obviously he was a starter for us, he was our leader on our offensive line, so our guys leaned on him quite a bit," DelMonaco said. "He's a guy that's going to show up early, be there more than on time. I know that Coach Coughlin is known to say, '10 minutes early is on time.' He'll be there 15 minutes early."

One Stampeders alumni who made the leap to the professional level mere weeks before Jones signed with the Giants is Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Shawn Lemon. Lemon and Jones were members of the Stampeders this past CFL season, winning the Grey Cup (their Super Bowl) together and attended the same workout with the Steelers after their season ended.

Lemon said that he and Jones still talk at least once a week, and added that Jones' comedic timing in the locker room endeared him to their Stampeders teammates on both sides of the ball, calling him a "practical jokester." Lemon thinks the sophisticated professional offenses might be a little bit challenging for Jones at first, coming from a system where he operated exclusively out of the shotgun formation, but was confident that Jones would be a "perfect fit" for the Giants.

"Sometime [Jones] was making checks before the quarterback was making checks," Lemon said. "He's a huge leader for us, for him to be so young, I feel like his skillset is through the roof."

The Giants are now responsible for nurturing Jones' talent, but it certainly sounds as if they won't have to worry about holding his hand through the process.

Nick Powell may be reached at npowell@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpowellbkny. Find NJ.com Giants on Facebook.