The Las Vegas Raiders came out of Week 1 with a victory despite going into the regular season opener with some off-field distractions. Veteran pass rusher Chandler Jones had taken to social media to blast the franchise on more than one occasion, but head coach Josh McDaniels was able to keep his team focused on the field.
Prior to the game, McDaniels had called the Jones situation a private matter and said the team was handling things behind closed doors. Defensive leader Maxx Crosby echoed that sentiment, but Jones would get back on social media following those comments with more harsh words towards the Raiders.
McDaniels would let it be known that Jones would not be suiting up for the season opener, and with Week 1 now in the rearview, the question of Jones’ future remains. But McDaniels offered nothing new regarding the situation.
“And I have no updates on Chandler,” McDaniels said. “I’m going to stick with what I said last week.”
While McDaniels and the Raiders can’t control what Jones chooses to do and say on social media, they can control how they respond to it in public, and so far, they have maintained that things will remain private on their end. For the sake of the team as a whole, that is certainly the right move, as this remains a tenuous situation.
Jones originally took to Instagram to blast the Raiders and accuse them of banning him from the team facilities and contacting the mother of his child with whom he no longer has a relationship while also sharing messages between him and McDaniels. Jones mentioned wanting to speak with Antonio Brown and Aldon Smith about their dealings with the franchise before claiming he didn’t want to play for the Raiders as long as McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler were still there.
Following the Raiders’ response and saying that this issue would be handled privately, Jones went back on social media to claim the Raiders had sent a Las Vegas Crisis Response Team to his house and questioned why nobody is asking the franchise why they chose to send him away from the team.
The Raiders seem to be treating this as if Jones is dealing with a mental health episode and are trying to help him get through this. Whether that actually is the case or Jones is simply frustrated with how he feels the franchise is treating him is unclear, but it is obvious that the Raiders will not be adding to the situation in the public eye.
