The odd situation between Chandler Jones and the Raiders does not appear to be any closer to a resolution. On September 15, the edge defender posted a tweet indicating that the team has not yet contacted him or his reps, though just last week he posted to his Instagram account what appears to be a text exchange between him and Raiders owner Mark Davis (via Tashan Reed of The Athletic).
To recap, in the days leading up to Las Vegas’ regular season opener, Jones posted a series of angry messages to his Instagram account alleging that the Raiders locked him out of the team facility, thereby forcing him to work out at a local gym. In those since-deleted posts, he went on say that he could not get in touch with either head coach Josh McDaniels or general manager Dave Ziegler and no longer wanted to play for the club as long as McDaniels and Ziegler remain in charge.
Then, in another round of social media posts that he later deleted, Jones — who missed several practices towards the end of training camp for undisclosed reasons — said that the Raiders had sent a member of the Las Vegas crisis response team to his home. The CRT member allegedly told Jones that he was in danger and needed to go with her.
Speculation has swirled that Jones is dealing with a mental health matter, though there has been no confirmation in that regard. The organization has, unsurprisingly, declined to comment about the situation.
In a new string of tweets, at least some of which have been deleted, Jones spoke more directly about Davis.
“I wish mark Davis told the ppl why I really can’t play,” Jones said (as relayed by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk). “I think I know why, but I want y’all to ask him. I’ll let him say it to the public not me lmao. I wish I could play with my brothers, but marky mark is holding a huge secret that only I know! That’s why I was asking for my protection sorry if I sound scared because I’m not lol, when I found out I was lol.”
It is unclear what secret Jones is referring to, or what information he discovered. In the above-referenced text exchange, the only substantive portion of Davis’ dialogue read, “I care for you the person more than I care for you the player.. I’m here for you should you feel the need to talk.. Man to man.. With respect..”
Jones was inactive for the Raiders’ Week 1 victory over the Broncos and is also inactive for today’s matchup with the Bills. At this point, it is difficult to say when (or even if) Jones will hit the field again.
In his most recent tweets, Jones added, “[Davis] can’t cut me, I have proof of his reps saying I’m under contract, and they want me on the team.. but not playing right now. Lol.”
Indeed, if the Raiders were to release Jones, they would be saddled with a dead money charge of roughly $13MM (though as a post-June 1 transaction, such a release would actually yield a modest cap savings on the 2023 ledger). Presumably, Las Vegas would like for Jones to return to action and try to live up to the three-year, $51MM contract he signed last offseason, a deal that looks like a signficiant misstep given the current impasse and Jones’ disappointing 2022 campaign.
It is fair to wonder if the NFLPA will become involved in this matter, particulary in light of Jones’ accusations against Davis.
man wtf is going on lol
Raiders really need to start putting more emphasis on character with who they bring into their organization. They can’t just be this unlucky.
It’s all fun and games having talented mental patients on your team, until they go 150MPH through a neighborhood and kill somebody, freeze their feet and call your GM a cracker, and have a full breakdown over the small inconvenience of accidentally briefly not being able to enter their facility.
That starts w/ the HC & GM that signed him. They’re inept.
Chandler surely wasn’t a “Gruden Guy”.
I’d say more the inept owner that hired that GM and HC
Mark Davis wearing women’s underwear while punching the clown wouldn’t really be a surprise
what’s wrong with that? it’s therapeutic.
Lol
His wife cuts his hair
What we know: he’s not keeping any secrets as far as where the best barbers are.
Chandler has actually gone off the deep end after finding out that it’s a wig that Davis willingly puts on his head. To be fair I’d be scared as well if I was Jones
I thought he cut his own hair?
I don’t know what is going just cut the guy and end the BS
Jones clearly needs some help.
He’s a time traveler from the year 2142 but refuses to get a 2023 haircut.
His hair can’t be cut. It would destroy the world as we know it in an instant. That’s the secret.
Ak185
I have read your post for a long time. I kind of expected better from you. A low hanging fruit personal attack has not really been your style.
I am sorry, I did not mean it as such. Davis’ hair has always been his trademark, I did not mean it to negatively about him. I apologize.
Please realize that I have a lot of respect for you and your points of view. Even when I skim through 200 comments, I stop to read yours.
A sincere question. Has anyone that went from winning in NE w/Tom, done anything anywhere else? FO, assistants to HC’s, Bill (still there but .500. Actually sub .500 if we’re allowed to include his Cleveland days)?
Jon Robinson had a good run in Tennessee before being unceremoniously dumped midseason last year. No losing seasons, despite taking over a pretty bad team. Can’t think of other long term successes directly from that tree.
I obviously disagree with your giving Brady 100% of the credit, especially for assistants who might have even nothing to with the offense, but we’ve been over that before.
Ak185
This is why you rock.
I think that Nick Saban did quite a bit for what he had to work with in Miami. I also like what Mike Vrabel and Dan Campbell are doing, they probably align more under Sean Payton. However, both Payton and Belichick are Parcells disciples.
Mike Vrabel was not directly a coach under Belichick, so I did not consider him. He also tied in with Robinson, at least to this point in time. Campbell has served under several coaches, so I’m not that I’d file directly under Belichick. Perhaps you’re right that Payton is closest, but he’s been in several systems.
BB doesn’t need assistants or coordinators. They need him.
I would say that Vrabel with patriots from 2001-2008 has done well as a couch in Tennessee, Welker did good after leaving New England, as has been decent in his coaching at san fransisco and now miami, Vinni did great for New England and went on to continue a great carear in Indy.
Mark Davis needs to go away.
The Raiders legend was built by players who were misfits, malcontents or plain oddballs with mental issues. Chandler seems to be a perfect fit for this organization.
Lol, spot on bro. On God!
Romanowski breaking Williams’ face comes to mind lol