Marcus Elliot Jones is an American football cornerback and return specialist for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL).
He played college football at Troy and Houston and was drafted by the Patriots in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Jones began his college football career at Troy. He was named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year and second-team all-conference as a return specialist after returning 30 kickoffs for 879 yards and three touchdowns and 14 for 121 yards while also intercepting two passes on defense, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
As a sophomore, he was named first-team All-Sun Belt as a return specialist after returning 23 kickoffs for 584 yards and one touchdown and to the second-team as a cornerback after breaking up eight passes with one interception.
After his sophomore season Jones entered the transfer portal and later announced that he would be transferring to the University of Houston.
After sitting out one season and redshirting due to NCAA transfer rules, Jones had 24 tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, and one interception on defense.
Jones was also named first-team All-American Athletic Conference as a return specialist after leading the nation with 337 yards on 17 punt returns with one returned for a touchdown.
During his redshirt senior season, Jones returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown with 17 seconds left against 19th-ranked SMU to win the game 44–37.
To cap off the season he won the Paul Hornung Award, given to the nation’s most versatile player, and was selected to the Associated Press All-America first team as a defensive back.
He also won AAC Special Teams Player of the Year along with being named first-team All-AAC as a return specialist and second-team All-AAC as a cornerback.
Jones was selected by the New England Patriots in the third round (85th overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft.