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In the weeks before he was let go by the Patriots, cornerback Jack Jones had his name linked with an incident ahead of the team’s Week 9 game against the Commanders. Jones, it was reported, broke curfew by not showing up on time to the team hotel. Cornerback J.C. Jackson was in hot water, too, for not showing up at all to the hotel.
The report came from Mike Reiss of ESPN, a veteran Patriots reporter. He wrote on Twitter/X, “Update on this story: Per sources, J.C. Jackson missed curfew at the team hotel (as @AlbertBreer said) on Saturday night, while Jack Jones also missed curfew.”
After he was cut by the Patriots, though, and signed by the Raiders this week, Jones lashed out against the reports on Twitter/X.
“I never showed up late to the hotel lol savage made that up .. don’t believe everything,” Jones wrote, referring to the Savage Sports site.
I never showed up late to the hotel lol savage made that up.. don’t believe everything 🙏🏽🙏🏽
When it was pointed out to Jones that Reiss wrote it originally, he responded, “Mike wrong I seen it from savage idc who started it he followed and it’s wrong.”
He then added a GIF of a man wearing a large cap, Twitter-speak for a lie.
Jack Jones Gamble Flamed Out for Patriots
Whether the story about the hotel is true does not matter much as far as the Patriots and Jack Jones are concerned now. He’s gone. The team took a gamble on him in the 2022 draft, picking him in the fourth round despite trouble that had cropped up during his time at USC, before he landed at Arizona State. That trouble included a burglary charge on a Panda Express in 2018.
On Monday, the Patriots finally decided they’d had enough of Jones, and coach Bill Belichick cut ties with him altogether.
One New England reporter—Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald—pegged the reason behind the move as a lack of professionalism. Whatever the reason, Jones was benched for the bulk of the Week 9 game against Washington, and was benched again on Sunday for all but 10 snaps against the Colts in Germany.
He was seen pouting on the sideline. According to Kyed, that prompted the Patriots to cut ties with Jack Jones.
“Jack’s a talented player,” Belichick said in his press conference. “He showed that when he played for us at times. In the end, I felt like we just needed to move on. But he’s a talented player.”
Memorable Moments: Interception and an Arrest
Two aspects of Jack Jones’ brief time with the Patriots stand out. The first is his highlights on the field, and there were more than a few as a rookie.
Jones played 13 games as a rookie and recorded two interceptions, including a pick-6 on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in Week 4. He had a 74.7 grade at Pro Football Focus, establishing himself as a solid rotational cornerback and a potential starter.
But he also was suspended by the Patriots late in the season, and concerns over his lack of professionalism resurfaced.
Then came the big one: Jack Jones was arrested in June at Boston’s Logan Airport with two loaded guns. He agreed to a plea deal in August, but avoided jail time. Prosecutors agreed to drop the charges—nine altogether—as part of the deal. Jones agreed to one year of probation and 48 hours of community service.
Jones never really seemed to recover from that incident, on the field or off it, after that incident. Thus, he’s off to start again with the Raiders.
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Ex-Patriots CB Jack Jones Sounds off on ‘Wrong’ Curfew Report