‘This right here, this [is] a family’: Jack Jones has quickly gotten in sync with Raiders secondary
Jack Jones has been a part of the Raiders secondary for 45 days. But you couldn’t tell by the way he’s seamlessly fit in. las vegas raiders head coach
From the choreographed touchdown celebrations to the intricately specialized handshakes to numerous plays made – you’d think Jones had been with the team since the start of Training Camp. It feels organic, but forming this type of chemistry in such a short period of time is rare in an NFL locker room. According to Jones and Nate Hobbs, they’ve never witnessed anything like this.
“This right here, this [is] a family,” said Jones. “It’s real, I’ll say that. It’s a family and it’s real.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this happen that quick where someone gets here a week before, two weeks before and starts going crazy and making plays like he does,” Hobbs said of his newest secondary teammate. “He’s special.”
Robertson had a few words with Jones last season during Training Camp when the Raiders hosted the New England Patriots for joint practices. It’s an ironic conversation in hindsight considering the two would become teammates.
“He didn’t know who I was, but I came to him and said, ‘Hey Jack Jack, I like your game,'” Robertson recalled. “He said, ‘Bro, I appreciate it. Same to you.’ And that was probably our only words, he probably doesn’t even remember – but I remember.
“I’ve been watching Jack since I was in high school and college. He just got that ‘it’ factor to him. So when we picked him up, I knew we had us a good one.”
Fast forward 15 months later, Jones, Hobbs and Robertson have formed an outstanding outside cornerback trio. Since Jones’ Week 11 debut with the Silver and Black, the Raiders have accumulated 10 takeaways – two of those being interceptions returned for touchdowns by No. 18. As a Las Vegas Raider, Jones has a 82.6 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus/
“It’s bigger than just me, it’s the whole defense,” Jones said. “I really give credit to [our] coaches because they’re the ones who’re getting all this started and the players are just following and executing the game plan.”
With Jones giving a hats off to the coaching staff, Pierce said he believes the biggest area improvement in the defense has been attention to detail in the film room – something he’s preached since his days as Long Beach Poly High School’s head coach, where Jones attended, that’s now trickled down into the Raiders defensive backs room.
“I can tell you all the information, but it’s your job as a professional to go there and do what you need to do to get yourself ready and prepared to play, and [Jones has] done that obviously in the last two or three weeks by his performance,” said Pierce. “That’s got to continue, but you’d like to see everybody doing it.
“If Nate is talking with Jack, then I’ll say, ‘Jack, why are you not bringing Nate? Why are you not bringing Amik [Robertson]? Where’s the rest of the DBs, all the corners should be there.’ We should all be seeing the same thing, right? You know what this building is? It’s Silver and Black. We should all see the same colors. Don’t make up any other new colors and new schemes.”
