Packers sign Marlon Jones, undrafted cornerback who battled cancer in college

The Packers are bringing in an undafted rookie with a back story that makes him easy to root for.

Marlon Jones, a cornerback from Vanderbilt who missed the 2024 season while batting cancer, is signing with the Packers, according to Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports.

Jones began his college career at Eastern Washington and was one of the best cornerbacks in the FCS before deciding to step up to a higher level of competition and transfer to Vanderbilt. But the day before he was going to move to Nashville in the spring of 2024, he received a diagnosis of stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

That caused him to miss the 2024 season, but by 2025 he was in full remission and cleared to play. Although he didn’t make a big impact at Vanderbilt last year, he showed signs that with enough time to recover from the ordeal that cancer treatments put his body through, he may be able to play in the NFL.

Jones is a long shot to make the Packers’ regular-season roster, but he’ll be given that shot, two years after a diagnosis that forced him to put football on hold.