Last offseason, the biggest addition to the Las Vegas Raiders on the defensive side of the ball came by way of pass rusher Chandler Jones. A two-time All-Pro, Jones, being placed opposite of Raiders star Maxx Crosby was expected to give the team an unstoppable pass-rushing duo.
But Jones struggled mightily, not recording a sack until Week 12 and failing to make much of an impact. When he seemingly had found his footing late in the season, he would, unfortunately, suffer an elbow injury and miss the final two games of the season.
Jones chose not to get surgery on the elbow and rehab it instead. Now with offseason workouts getting underway, Jones came in lighter and explained how he chose to take his time as opposed to going straight into weights and heavy workouts, via Levi Damien of Raiders Wire:
“I went through a whole rehab process and as I was rehabbing I kind of took my time instead of just jumping in and trying to gain muscle right away,” said Jones. “Got back healthy, then I started working out, lifting, and that’s where I am. I’m just kind of building muscle right now. Just shedding the leaves off the tree and growing them back on.”
Jones would continue on, revealing that he is 15 pounds lighter than his lifted weight and he feels a lot faster now while adding that may he choose to play at the current weight:
According to Jones, he is at around 250 pounds, which is 15 pounds below his listed weight, adding that he feels “a lot faster” and that he’s “trying to perfect [his] craft”
“I could play there, I don’t know, we’ll see when training camp starts.” Jones continued. “But I feel good, I feel fast, and we’ll see what happens.”
Whatever route he chooses to go, the Raiders will be looking at Jones to have a bounce-back season. After recording double-digit sacks in his prior six healthy seasons, Jones had just 4.5 last year. His 38 total tackles and three tackles for loss were also the lowest of his career, aside from 2020, when he appeared in just five games.
With the Raiders selecting promising pass rusher Tyree Wilson with the 7th overall pick in this year’s draft, the pressure will be on the veteran to produce in a big way. The Raiders were one of the worst teams at getting to the quarterback last season, and Jones returning to form would go a long way toward fixing that issue.
