One of the most important players on the Las Vegas Raiders sits alone at his locker, and he is in no rush after slowly changing out of his uniform. Playing football with that much joy, along with a need — make that a responsibility — to be a difference-maker can be exhausting.
But Jack Jones wouldn’t change a thing.
“If I am on that field, I am going to make plays,” the Raiders cornerback said two weeks ago. “I gotta make plays. I have always been able to, but I was just a knucklehead growing up. I had to learn … I had to grow up. Man, I’ve come a long way.”
His past has always followed him, and now in a good way. Jones’ old high school coach, Antonio Pierce, is the Raiders coach. Pierce was also with him at Arizona State — as was former NFL head coach Marvin Lewis — and vouched for Jones when the New England Patriots released him last season because they were tired of his act.
Jones’ talent dictated that. He can cover top receivers, and better yet, he can make a play on the ball when it’s in the air. Jones, 26, ran a couple of interceptions back for touchdowns in seven games with the Raiders last season, and big things were expected for him and the team after a training camp of daily highlights.
But while Jones had another pick six this season, he was also benched for a quarter in Week 4 for not hustling and has watched the 2-11 team lose nine straight games.
“We just have to do more, it’s as simple as that,” Jones said after Sunday’s 28-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “Our best has not been enough, and we have to figure that out.”
Jones, who had his second interception of the season Sunday in Tampa after he was beaten for a touchdown earlier in the game, said people won’t question his or his team’s effort the last four games.
“I have never been a quitter my whole life, and there is no need to start now,” Jones said. “We can still finish strong and come back strong next season.”
Jones was back on the field Tuesday night, along with 225 local kids at the Bill and Lillie Heinrich YMCA, playing games and having cookies and hot cocoa as he looks to find his footing in the Las Vegas community. Before Thanksgiving, he also handed out 200 Thanksgiving meal kits and gift cards to families in need at Casa de Luz in Las Vegas.
Tip of the cap to @presidentjacc for handing out 200 Thanksgiving meal kits and gift cards to families in need at Casa de Luz in Las Vegas. A lot of happy faces. pic.twitter.com/kTlmNiBS2j
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) November 19, 2024
“It wasn’t easy for me growing up,” Jones said. “I grew up not having meals every night so I like to give back when I can and give people a chance to have a good meal, take a little stress off their backs and look forward to things.”
Before coming to Las Vegas, Jones had already made stops at Long Beach Poly High, USC, Moorpark Community College, Arizona State and the Patriots.
The confidence that came with the Long Beach, Calif., native announcing his college choice with Snoop Dogg in attendance is still there, but it took some hits.
“There were times I had doubts … well, not really doubts but the vision got a little blurry and I didn’t know how it would play out,” Jones said. “I kept my faith in God and kept working and it panned out the right way.”
Pierce has played a big role in Jones’ life, which has had its share of troubles. His dismissal from USC came after his 2018 arrest and subsequent guilty plea for burglary of a Panda Express restaurant. While with the Patriots, he was arrested and faced 10 gun charges after allegedly bringing two loaded, unregistered guns to Boston Logan Airport and trying to bring them through TSA screening. Those charges were dropped when Jones agreed to one year of pre-trial probation.
Pierce has long been by his side, helping him focus on school to get a college opportunity as a kid, and pushing him and even benching him for being frustrated and not running out a couple of plays in a Week 3 loss to the Carolina Panthers (Jones sat out the first quarter of the next game).
“I’ve known Jack since he was 13, man, and he just keeps rising and there’s still more there,” Pierce said. “Gaining some more weight, getting the little sucker in the weight room, get him bigger, but what he brought to this team when he got here was a swag, the confidence, that go-getter mentality to go make plays, anticipating, film study.”
Antonio Pierce first started coaching Jack Jones at Long Beach Poly High and also coached him at Arizona State. (Denny Medley / USA Today)
Jones called it “an amazing feeling” to play for his high school coach. “It means a lot to me that he is my head coach and gave me this opportunity,” he said. “I don’t take it for granted. … He’s helped me learn how to be coachable and control my emotions.”
There is only so much more the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Jones can grow physically, but the Raiders are making note of his other development.
“We as coaches always say, ‘Ignore the noise,’ and people think that it’s the outside, but sometimes it’s your own noise in your own head,” cornerbacks coach Ricky Manning Jr. said. “You have to train yourself to do that, and the only way is through experience and going through it.
“And the great thing about Jack is he has had that experience this year of going through tough times, calming himself down and coming out of it. Playing mellow and not getting too riled up.”
It’s a fine line, because Jones’ inclination to improvise also makes it harder for opposing quarterbacks to predict what he is going to do.
“He definitely has a nose for the ball,” Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew II said. “He is kind of a wild card. Even though you know the coverage by the book, he can play it a little different, read things and pick things up. (Quarterbacks) always have to be aware that he’ll probably get involved in the play if it’s on his side.”
Jones was getting interceptions against Minshew and teammate Aidan O’Connell almost daily at training camp, which turns out was a clear and ominous sign for the Raiders offense this season. But even in his best days in camp at Costa Mesa, Calif., one could see Jones’ emotions get the best of him when he slammed his helmet after fumbling a kickoff return.
“We want to have some consistency of things and we’re trying to iron Jackie out a little bit all the time,” assistant coach Marvin Lewis said earlier this season. “He’s a very talented player, and I’ve had the pleasure as I told him again, ‘Jack, it’s been five years now. Let’s move on, let’s get this moved to Step B. We’re still on Step A.’ But yes, he’s a very talented young man. He has a knack for making football plays, and he just has that about him.”
The benching after Week 3 was another loud reminder that he needs to avoid the highs and lows, and Manning thinks Jones has taken a step in the right direction since.
“I think he has grown maturity-wise,” Manning said. “He is becoming more of a professional.”
And the next step for Jones, well … that’s pretty exciting for the Raiders.
“He still has so much upside,” Manning said. “He is only touching his potential, and he’s so hungry. His instincts, when he keeps those within the confines of our defense, special things happen. He’s learning to do that more, to see what he sees and be able to react and respond within the confines of the defense.”
In many ways, the message that Jones gave to families on Thanksgiving and then to kids on Tuesday night is one he gives himself.
“I don’t want anyone to give up, because you never know what the end is going to look like,” he said.
