Raiders CB Jack Jones feels that he has come a long way from when he was released by the Patriots last season.
“If I am on that field, I am going to make plays,” Jones said, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic. “I gotta make plays. I have always been able to, but I was just a knucklehead growing up. I had to learn … I had to grow up. Man, I’ve come a long way. I have never been a quitter my whole life, and there is no need to start now. We can still finish strong and come back strong next season…It wasn’t easy for me growing up. I grew up not having meals every night so I like to give back when I can and give people a chance to have a good meal, take a little stress off their backs and look forward to things.”
“There were times I had doubts … well, not really doubts but the vision got a little blurry and I didn’t know how it would play out,” Jones added. “I kept my faith in God and kept working and it panned out the right way.”
Raiders HC Antonio Pierce and assistant head coach Marvin Lewis both spoke about their relationships with Jones and how they have helped him grow as a player this season.
“I’ve known Jack since he was 13, man, and he just keeps rising and there’s still more there,” Pierce said of Jones. “Gaining some more weight, getting the little sucker in the weight room, get him bigger, but what he brought to this team when he got here was a swag, the confidence, that go-getter mentality to go make plays, anticipating, film study.”
“We want to have some consistency of things and we’re trying to iron Jackie out a little bit all the time,” Lewis noted. “He’s a very talented player, and I’ve had the pleasure as I told him again, ‘Jack, it’s been five years now. Let’s move on, let’s get this moved to Step B. We’re still on Step A.’ But yes, he’s a very talented young man. He has a knack for making football plays, and he just has that about him.”
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