After a few days of relative silence, the Las Vegas Raiders stole the show in NFL free agency on Wednesday, with perhaps one of the best free-agent signings in the franchise’s history.
According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Raiders have made a major splash by signing one of the best pass rushers in the league in Chandler Jones, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals.
Four-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Chandler Jones is finalizing a deal with the #Raiders, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 16, 2022
With this move, the Raiders have created one of the most intimidating defensive one-two punches in the NFL. Maxx Crosby is coming off a Pro Bowl year and seems to only get better with every season, and now Jones slides in to create a dynamic duo, which should help cure the team’s problems defensively.
It’s all black now.
— ♛Chandler Jones (@chanjones55) March 16, 2022
Although Jones is no spring chicken at 32, the veteran is still playing at an incredibly high level and coming off an impressive campaign with the Cardinals. Jones finished last season with 10.5 sacks and six forced fumbles in 15 games played. In addition, the outside linebacker earned a fourth trip to the Pro Bowl for his efforts.
Along with four Pro Bowl appearances, Jones has been named First-Team All-Pro twice in his career and has one Super Bowl title to his credit while playing for the New England Patriots, which is probably the Josh McDaniels-Dave Ziegler tie that led him to the Raiders.
It’ll be interesting to see if the McDaniels-Ziegler duo has anything else up their sleeves to help bolster the defense in free agency. The team has been linked to Stephon Gilmore and Tyrann Mathieu, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll make another big splash on defense or turn their attention to the offensive line and or wide receiver position.
