Less than a week before they were set to kick off the 2023 season against their AFC West rivals the Denver Broncos, the Las Vegas Raiders experienced an unexpected and unusual situation with one of their players.
Chandler Jones, one of the veterans on the roster, blasted the Raiders organization for not allegedly allowing him to workout at the team’s training facility and use a local gym instead. He also claimed that Las Vegas tried to reach out to the mother of his child which he took offense to.
The outburst came out of nowhere as Jones posted several messages and photos to his Instagram story that looked to paint people like Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler as bad guys. McDaniels publicly came out and said that they dealt with the matter internally, but the expectation is that Jones will remain away from the team and miss Week 1 against the Broncos.
Without Jones, McDaniels confirmed that Tyree Wilson will step up in his place as he is not looking to exhaust his players this early into the regular season via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN:
Raiders coach McDaniels says Tyree Wilson will be ready to fill in Sunday. “Nobody’s going to play 70 plays on Sunday.”
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) September 6, 2023
Wilson spent most of the offseason rehabbing a foot injury that prematurely ended his last season at Texas Tech, but he was cleared to practice a few weeks ago and has been impressive. Las Vegas took him No. 7 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft and although he hasn’t been with the team that long they are high on his potential and believe he can help boost the defense.
Aside from Wilson, Maxx Crosby will need to be at his best in order to make up for the loss of Jones. McDaniels is smart trying to limit snaps this early in the season, but he may end up having to push up against that 70-snap limit if they find themselves in a close game against the Broncos.
Tyree Wilson had to trust the process during injury recovery
Fans had to wait almost half the year before they got their first look at Wilson. Foot injuries can be difficult to come back from, but the rookie said that he had to keep his down and trust the process as he worked his way back to full health.
