What, exactly, happens in Las Vegas each year that causes its football team and players to bring drama and tumult to the team just ahead of the start of each NFL season? It is the heat? Something in the water? The buffets?
Whatever it is, it’s coming down hard on some ex-Patriots just days before the start of the NFL season. In fact, at the center of the storm is Chandler Jones, the well-liked former Super Bowl champ who started his career with the Patriots, and played his first four seasons in New England.
Jones joined the Raiders last year on a three-year, $51 million contract, coming to Las Vegas at the same time as former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, the Raiders’ head coach, and New England’s head of player personnel, Dave Ziegler.
But on Tuesday, Jones went on an Instagram tirade against both McDaniels and Ziegler, apparently about his inability to get into the team facility for a workout.
Jones punctuated his rant by saying he, “don’t wanna play for the Raiders if that’s my HC, or GM.” Jones subsequently deleted the posts once they started getting national attention.
Chandler Jones on Instagram definitely has me trippin right now.
Jones Was Involved in Bizarre 2016 Police Incident
Jones has earned a reputation in his 11 NFL seasons, four of which ended with spots in the Pro Bowl, as a good and level-headed veteran presence, and he has been taking that role on in Las Vegas, where he has been a mentor to rookie first-round pick Tyree Wilson.
But for those in New England, this incident will surely bring to mind one of the more bizarre situations in recent Patriots history, which occurred in January 2016. That was when Jones, rather out of the blue, showed up at the Foxborough, Mass., police station shirtless and began to get on his knees and pray. He reported to officers that he had been told to come to the station (but was unable to explain more), then asked for help and was eventually taken to nearby Norwood Hospital, where he was treated and released.
The Boston Globe later reported that Jones had been smoking synthetic marijuana before the incident.
The Patriots were off that Sunday because they were on a bye week ahead of their AFC semifinal game against Kansas City. The Patriots won, 27-20, and Jones not only played, but recorded a sack that day.
Jones Was Frustrated by Raiders
The reasons behind Jones’ outburst Tuesday are not fully known, and there were vague references to the possibility that the Raiders called the mother of his child, which Jones said, “provoked” him.
One post shows messages apparently from Jones to Ziegler in which he says, “How do you expect me to play this season and I can’t even get my GM on the phone?” He then writes, “Should I call Josh? Or will he not pick up either?” Seemingly frustrated, he adds, “Why y’all bring me to Vegas? To play with me?”
Finally, Jones writes, “It’s a shame that I am a top athlete with 112 sacks in the NFL and I have to go to a local gym to work out during the season for no apparent reason this is wild to me Josh and you know it you need to do what’s right.”
In another post, Jones wrote that he was done with the Raiders. “F*** it, I don’t wanna play for the Raiders if that’s my HC or GM.”
Jones did what anyone does when they discover they’ve stepped in it on social media—he deleted the posts. But they’re still in the ether, and no matter the explanation, they’ll cause the Raiders some headaches heading into the season. As usual.
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Ex-Patriots Star Chandler Jones Shreds Raiders, Josh McDaniels in Fiery IG Posts