Andy Lyons/Getty Images Adam Jones pleads with the referee during the fourth quarter of a Wild Card Playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in January 2016.
On Wednesday former Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones received a shipment of autographed Joe Haden-Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys in the mail. What did he do with the unexpected largesse? Donate the jerseys to charity? Give them to children in need?
Nope. His first instinct was to set fire to the autographed jerseys in his driveway and post the expletive-laced video to his Instagram account. In the video he not only cursed Pittsburgh Steelers fans, he accused Steelers cornerback Joe Haden of mailing him the jerseys.
Haden immediately denied the accusation—and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus of Rosenhaus Sports, went on record to deny Haden’s involvement as well.
Pacman Jones Suspects Joey Porter
In a virtual interview with TMZ Sports conducted early Friday morning, Jones recounted his thought process after he opened the box filled with jerseys—and indicated that he no longer thinks Haden was involved.
“At first you go off your first instinct. Do I believe Joe sent them? No, I don’t think Joe sent them and I talked to Joe, I don’t have no problem with Joe,” Jones said, in the expletive-filled, NSFW video below.
Then he went on to bring a new party into the conversation.
“But I do think somebody over there in that ballpark, whatever they doing over there in *hitsburgh, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Joey Porter sent them.”
That seems unlikely, too, though Porter does have a long history of antagonizing players from rival teams, including Jones.
No Bengals or Steelers fan will ever forget how Porter—then a linebackers coach for the Steelers—came onto the field near the end of a 2016 playoff game between the two teams while Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown was being tended to by trainers—the victim of a 15-yard personal foul by Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Porter’s presence led Pacman Jones to completely lose his cool and commit a dead-ball personal foul, and the additional 15-yard penalty gave the Steelers the opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal. Placekicker Chris Boswell went on to convert the 35-yard kick and the Steelers escaped Cincinnati with an improbable 18-16 victory.
Highlights from that unforgettable playoff tilt below:
Pacman Jones’ Plan for the Remaining Joe Haden Jerseys
Meanwhile, there was one other interesting tidbit of information that came out of the TMZ Sports interview: Jones revealed that he received 54 Haden jerseys, many more than one might have suspected watching his jersey burning video.
“I only burned 15 of them. I’m going to burn the rest today or tomorrow,” said Jones, still not thinking of anyone but himself, apparently.
Pacman Jones entered the NFL as a first-round draft pick of the Titans in 2005. He played for the Bengals from 2010 through 2017, before finishing his career with the Denver Broncos in 2018. He officially retired from the NFL in May of this year.
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