The Las Vegas Raiders have made it clear that they have no intentions of letting the rest of the division pass them by after making their first playoff appearance since 2016. The trade for star receiver Davante Adams will make a ton of headlines, and rightfully so, but the addition of pass rusher Chandler Jones is arguably just as important.
Jones is one of the NFL’s elite pass rushers, and in a division with Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Justin Herbert, pressuring the quarterback is extremely important. So being able to sign Jones was a huge deal and wasn’t expected.
But as Jones explained, there were a lot of reasons why he was comfortable joining the Raiders in free agency:
“Yeah, that was my agent, honestly. I spoke to my agent, we sat down, and we had a list, and obviously, the Raiders were on the list, but there were a lot of things that credited to my decision of coming to Las Vegas,” Jones said. “Maxx Crosby. I mean, everyone’s speaking about Maxx Crosby. I’m speaking about Maxx Crosby. I’m a huge fan of him and just to have the opportunity to rush an opposite side of him is huge for me. I’m very familiar with the front office. I trust them like no other. I’ve known them since I came into the NFL. Dave Ziegler, Josh McDaniels, Pat Graham. Pat Graham was my position coach in New England when I first started playing my rookie year. So, he’s the d-coordinator. This is a great opportunity for me. I’m happy to be Raider. And like I said, I can’t wait to get on the field.”
Obviously, being able to play opposite a player like Maxx Crosby is an excellent opportunity. While Crosby didn’t have the sack numbers, he led the NFL in quarterback pressures. With someone like that on the other end, Jones could find himself with many more sack opportunities just from being in the right spot, and teams will have to make a difficult decision about who to double-team.
But the familiarity of the coaching staff is easy to forget about. Jones was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2012 when McDaniels served as their offensive coordinator. As Jones noted, Raiders defensive coordinator Pat Graham was his position coach, and Ziegler would join the Patriots organization in 2013. Everything came together perfectly, and now the Raiders have a chance to make some serious noise this season.
