Cancer Threw Marlon Jones Jr.’s Life Upside Down, But Packers Kept NFL Dream Alive

Marlon Jones Jr. wasn’t supposed to have signed with the Green Bay Packers or become one of the most inspirational stories in the NFL this week.

After an excellent 2023 season at Eastern Washington, Jones transferred to Vanderbilt in hopes of improving his chances of reaching the NFL. Instead, just before he was set to move to Nashville in April 2024, his fears were realized. The lump he had detected on his neck was diagnosed as stage-3 classic lymphoma.

“I can remember sitting across from the oncologist when he said, ‘You will get healed from this cancer, but you won’t play football again,’” his mother, Amena, told Packers On SI this week. “And we were like, ‘Yes. Yes, you will. You will play football again.’”

The news was crushing. Beating the cancer, of course, was front and center on everyone’s mind. But to matter-of-factly rule out a return to football, to take away one of his life’s passions, was a bitter pill to swallow.

“I really hurt for my son at that point because I knew that was something that he had a dream of doing, of having the opportunity to continue on in college in hopes of having an opportunity to play in the NFL,” his father, Marlon Jones Sr., said.

“At the time, we were hearing that was taken away from him, so that was a huge hit and shock. I was quiet. I didn’t speak on it. For me, in moments like that, I just pray. So, I gave it to God. It was obviously out of our control at that point, anyway.”

After sitting out the 2024 season, Jones was back on the field for Vanderbilt in 2025. He went undrafted last month, which wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise to the family was that he wasn’t signed. He wasn’t even invited to a rookie minicamp as a tryout player.

“He seemed to get so much interest prior to the draft that we thought, ‘OK, the draft will happen and then his phone will ring afterwards,’” Amena said. “And when it didn’t, of course, that was (disappointing). The whole thing has been an emotional rollercoaster. But that was kind of a low point.

“My husband always said, ‘He’s going to get a call. It’s not too late. It’s not too late.’ But, as days go on and media coverage and opinions are out, it just felt like, well, we’ll keep the faith, but we also have to be real, too. That’s where Marlon Jr. was, as well.”

Jones was a three-star recruit in football and a state champion sprinter at Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash. At Eastern Washington, he had three interceptions apiece during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons. During that final season, he was first-team all-conference after returning two interceptions for touchdowns.

Then-Eastern Washington Eagles defensive back Marlon Jones Jr. intercepts a pass against Florida in 2022. | Matt Pendleton / USA TODAY NETWORK

Jones took the leap to Vanderbilt, but the cancer diagnosis threw his life – let alone his football career – into uncertainty. After chemotherapy helped him beat the cancer, he returned to the field in 2025. He played in nine games in his remarkable comeback but started only one game and had no interceptions or pass breakups. He played only 122 snaps on defense.

Without a lot of film – especially high-level film – the past two seasons, he went undrafted. And unsigned. Every day, his NFL dreams seemed to be getting more and more remote.

The End of a Career?

Vanderbilt cornerback Marlon Jones is shown before the start of the 2025 season. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

At some point, it crossed Amena’s mind that her son’s football career might be over.

“We’re a faith-filled family, and so we just always believe there’s another way, especially with what Marlon’s encountered with the cancer and stuff,” she said.

She recalled what the oncologist said about how Marlon Jr. would never play football again.

“Not only did he play football again,” she continued, “but he played on the SEC level. So, we do have faith. But it was hard because the process is what it is. So, the more days go out from the draft, the more you’re thinking, ‘Maybe we need to really start looking into what are your next steps here? What are we doing outside of football?’

“So, for me, yes, that was a reality. My husband would say, ‘No, I thought from Day 1 he was going to get a call,’ and he probably did, but I’m probably a little bit more of a realist, like, ‘OK, so now what’s the next step?’”

Marlon Jones Jr. makes a tackle for Vanderbilt against Kentucky. | Photo courtesy Vanderbilt Athletics

From an optimism standpoint, Amena considers Marlon Jr. a combination of both parents. While he kept training, he began looking ahead to what seemed to be the very real possibility of life without football.

“It wasn’t like he was giving up on his dream because this is what he’s always wanted to do,” she said. “It was just that we can’t wallow in it. We have to get up. What are the next steps? And so a couple of days after the draft, he came and he said, ‘OK, Mom, this is what I’ve been thinking in terms of careers. Can you help me research some of this?’

“He kept working out and he just kept going. That’s just Marlon, though. He was like that even during treatment. Where you would think that most people would just ball up and lay in bed and mourn their football career and their health, he didn’t do that. He has a youth group that he connected with during treatment. He met with them every week. He went to church. He hung out with friends.

“He was inspiring to me because there were times I didn’t want to get out of bed because I was just so sad about what was happening, but he just pushed on. So, this was really no different.”

And then, out of the blue, his football dream was given new life. The Packers called his agent, Pat Curran, and told him there might be an opportunity. The next day, the team called again.

“It was a go,” Marlon Sr. said.

Blessings Through a Firehose

Marlon Jr. flew to Green Bay on Sunday for a Monday workout.

After a devastating diagnosis, grueling road to recovery and a comeback that defied expectations, Jones crushed the workout and earned a contract.

After all his son had gone through, Marlon Sr. said he wanted to yell in excitement.

“My wife was saying, next steps, what does moving forward look like? And, at the same time, I was telling Marlon that a delay is not a denial,” he said. “That was my thing. That was something that I had recently heard on a sermon that I was watching online and I passed it onto my son, that a delay is not a denial, and that even sometimes when we’re waiting, God is working behind the scenes doing stuff for us, even when we don’t recognize it and we don’t know it.

“And so, when things like this do break through, and I do believe that it is a God thing, that sometimes the blessings come like in a firehose, So, that’s kind of how I see this, because he went from you might get an invitation, you got an invitation, get out here right now, less than 24 hours, he’s signed.”

This is Marlon Jones Jr.’s family: sister Tanéya, Marlon Jr., sister Tréja, mom Amena and dad Marlon Sr. Marlon Jr. is the youngest of the siblings. | Photo courtesy Marlon Jones Sr.

That emotional rollercoaster that Amena had referenced had gone from rock bottom to sky high.

“Shell-shocked is really the only way to describe it for me,” she said. “But of course it would work out this way, right? Because why wouldn’t it? This whole thing has been the opposite of what you would have expected. Honestly. I want him to continue his faith and not believe that all of this hard work that he’s done and all the dedication and everything he’s put into this was just going to drop and land on nothing.

“So, I’m very relieved and happy for him. I really am so, so excited for him. We recognize this is the beginning of the hard work, and he knows that. You’re there, you fight for a spot, you work really hard, and we recognize that, but I’m very, very relieved and excited for him.”

The Joneses weren’t sure when they’d come out to Green Bay. They understand the focus that it’s going to take for him to make the team.

The enormity of what has happened this week is still setting in. Marlon Jr. didn’t just beat cancer, he beat the odds. The Packers, meanwhile, had an unexpected opening on the roster after two players they intended to sign failed their physicals.

“I am a firm believer everything that’s supposed to happen will end up happening,” Amena said. “I don’t believe in coincidence. And somehow, some way, this team had one spot left three weeks, four weeks after the draft and called Marlon.”

With added emphasis, she continued, “They could have called anyone. They could have called anyone and they called him. And so I told him before any of this even happened, I said, ‘When this works out, it will work out in such a way that you cannot deny this is God’s hand on this. You can’t deny it.’ There’s just absolutely no way if you saw this story from beginning to end that you could deny it. With his lack of film from last season, with sitting out all of 2024, you can’t deny it.”

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