Needless to say, this is not how the Raiders had hoped to head into the season. With one of their two starting defensive ends going through was appears to be an emotional breakdown and posting several disturbing messages on social media.
Early last week, Jones began positing disturbing messages on social media, first claiming the Raiders wouldn’t let him into the facility, the team was trying to “provoke” him.
Buy Raiders TicketsThis posts continued for days.
More from Chandler Jones IG pic.twitter.com/eS5NEMF4E3
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 7, 2023
Jones has not practiced all week for what was listed officially as personal reasons. And Friday, head coach Josh McDaniels said in press conference that Jones will not play in the team’s season opener in Denver on Sunday.
As you might expect, McDaniels was not revealing much as to who would be getting the start opposite Maxx Crosby, saying “Everybody that’s active will have a role in the game.” But he did say rookie seventh overall pick Tyree Wilson and third year edge rusher Malcom Koonce would be the most likely players to see large roles at that spot, with a practice squad call up also being a possibility to fill out the depth chart.
