Raiders DE Chandler Jones deletes Instagram story where he says he doesn't want to play for team anymore
Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels later called the issue 'a personal situation and a private matter'
Chandler Jones doesn't sound very happy with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The veteran edge rusher posted a series of expletive-laden messages on his Instagram story after he claimed team officials wouldn't let him into the Raiders' gym. Jones also shared a screenshot of what looked like a text conversation with Las Vegas general manager David Ziegler where Jones was upset that neither Ziegler nor head coach Josh McDaniels responded to his messages.
Jones, 33, added that he had to workout at a local gym because he didn't have access to the team facility. He claimed the Raiders also spoke with his ex-girlfriend, whom Jones said he doesn't talk with anymore. Finally, Jones said he "don't wanna play for the Raiders if that's my HC, or GM" and implied he wanted defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to run the team.
The posts have since been deleted.
On Wednesday, McDaniels told reporters the situation with Jones is "a private matter' and that the team "dealt with it" and wouldn't speak further on it. McDaniels added that Jones was not with the team Wednesday and did not say if Jones would play in the Raiders' Week 1 bout with the Denver Broncos.
Chandler Jones went off on his IG story about no longer wanting to play for the Raiders after not being able to get into the team's facility. pic.twitter.com/9Y3b7dIeeN
— Yahoo Sports NFL (@YahooSportsNFL) September 5, 2023
"How do you expect me to play this season and I can't even get my GM on the phone?" the message said. "Thanks for that portal.
"Should I call Josh? Or will he not pick up either?
"Why ya'll bring me to Vegas? To play with me?"
Jones signed a three-year, $51 million deal with the Raiders in 2022 after six years with the Arizona Cardinals. He tallied 4.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hits in 15 games for Las Vegas last season. Jones was also the recipient of then-New England Patriots receiver (and now Raiders teammate) Jakobi Meyers' errant lateral pass that ended with a walk-off Las Vegas touchdown at the end of the 2022 season.
Jones wants 'pow wow' with Antonio Brown
In another since-deleted post, Jones wrote that he wanted to "have a pow wow" with former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown and defensive end Aldon Smith. Those two had tumultuous experiences of their own with the organization.
Brown infamously spent six months with the Raiders during the 2019 offseason after the Pittsburgh Steelers traded him. For those who have already forgotten, Brown demanded and was soon released by the Raiders prior to the season after a crazy summer that included burned feet from cryotherapy, an elongated fight with the NFL and the team over a helmet and more than $50,000 in fines. And he also reportedly called then-GM Mike Mayock a "cracker" during a heated verbal altercation.
As for Smith, he played just nine games for the Raiders in 2015 after four years with the San Francisco 49ers. The NFL suspended him for the rest of the season and the next four seasons before he resurfaced with the Dallas Cowboys in 2020.
The vibes around the Raiders have been a little off all summer. They replaced Derek Carr with Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback, didn't sign running back Josh Jacobs to a long-term extension and appear engaged in a pseudo-rebuild in the second year of the Ziegler and McDaniels partnership.
Jones' frustrations might be overblown in the end, but they could also be the result of a bigger problem.
