The Raiders took a gamble when they claimed cornerback Jack Jones off waivers from the Patriots, but there hasn’t been anyone in the building that has regretted the move since Jones joined the team in November.
Antonio Pierce said he went to team owner Mark Davis and put his job on the line to bring Jones to Las Vegas, and it was a pick-six from Jones on Christmas day that essentially took away the interim label from Pierce’s job title.
But the more we learn about Jones, the more it sounds like the Raiders got a player that doesn’t just make plays on Sundays.
He’s a leader on the practice field, as well.
According to Maxx Crosby on The Rush podcast, it was Jones who had the idea to turn the final walk-through session of the season into a full-bore practice…
“It was a Friday, this was our last real practice before we played the Broncos. Last practice of the season, basically. It’s quick. It’s like an hour and 10 minutes tops. So, it’s like you do a couple of plays, defense goes out, offense comes in… it’s smooth, it’s fast Friday.
We go out there. We were just supposed to do one period with helmets and we’re going to take helmets off and just walk through [the rest of practice. And Jack Jones comes up, he’s like ‘Y’all really trying to just do walk throughs… F— that! I’m trying to practice!’
I was like ‘You’re tell me? I don’t give a f—. I’ll practice for two hours if we have to.’ That sh– is fun while we’re out there. So we went up to [Antonio Pierce] and we’re like ‘Let’s just practice. It’s our last practice.’ So we just kept out helmets, did our sh– and ended it the right way.”
Looking ahead, the addition of Jones should allow the Raiders to spend money elsewhere as his salary averages just over $1 million for the next two seasons.
As of now, Jones is the top cornerback on the Raiders depth chart and it’s no secret that they are trying to make another splash at the position in the weeks ahead.
Whether that will happen in free agency or the draft remains to be seen, but there might be a trade possibility in the mix, as well.
twitter: @raidersbeat
