The Las Vegas Raiders placed defensive end Chandler Jones on the non-football injury list, NFL Network reported Wednesday.
The club is calling it a personal matter. The Raiders have not ruled out Chandler’s return if the situation improves, per the report.
The move comes two weeks after Jones’ rants on social media, since deleted, that said he didn’t “wanna play for the Raiders if that’s my HC or GM.” He said he was prevented from going to the team facility.
“It’s a shame that I am a top athlete with 112 sacks in the NFL and I have to go to a local gym to work out during the season for no apparent reason this is wild to me Josh and you know it you need to do what’s right,” Jones also posted, part of an apparent text string with McDaniels.
Two days later, Sept. 7, Jones posted to Instagram that the team sent a crisis team representative to his house and she said the player was “in danger.” Those posts, too, have since been deleted.
Jones signed a three-year, $51 million deal with Las Vegas as a free agent in March 2022. He restructured his contract in April to lower his base salary to $1.165 million this season by converting some of the money due to a bonus.
Jones, 33, recorded 38 tackles, 4.5 sacks and three fumble recoveries in 15 games (all starts) last season, his first with the Raiders. His signature moment with Las Vegas came in Week 15 when he grabbed a Patriots lateral in the closing seconds and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown to give the Raiders an unlikely 30-24 victory.
A four-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time All-Pro, Jones has 511 tackles, 112 sacks and 13 fumble recoveries — including two returned for touchdowns — in 154 career games (151 starts) with the New England Patriots (2012-15), Arizona Cardinals (2016-21) and Raiders.
Jones was a first-round draft pick (21st overall) by the Patriots in 2012 out of Syracuse.
–Field Level Media