Jack Jones started more games at cornerback than any other Raider last season, but he will not be back with Las Vegas in 2025. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports Las Vegas is cutting Jones, which follows a report from Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal indicating the club was first attempting to trade him. Bonsignore said the Raiders would cut Jones if they could not find a trade partner by tomorrow, and it appears no suitor emerged.
A fourth-round pick of the Patriots in 2022, Jones entered the league with a history of disciplinary issues dating back to his time at college. However, he delivered a promising rookie season, logging a 54% snap share and recording a pair of interceptions, six passes defensed, and one forced fumble. He also allowed a modest completion percentage of 54% as the nearest defender in coverage.
A July 2023 arrest for trying to bring a loaded gun onto a plane foreshadowed a difficult 2023 slate for Jones. Although the criminal charges were later dropped as part of an agreement with prosecutors, Jones started that season on IR due to a hamstring injury, and he fell out of favor with then-HC Bill Belichick halfway through the campaign (thanks in part to a missed curfew). He was subsequently waived and attracted interest from at least two teams on the waiver wire.
Las Vegas had the highest waiver priority among the Jones claimants, so the team was able to reunite the player with then-head coach Antonio Pierce, who also coached Jones in high school at Long Beach Poly High and then in college at Arizona State. Jones played well in a seven-game audition with the Raiders to close out the 2023 season, and he won a starting job last summer.
In his first season as a full-time starter (16 starts, 94% snap share), Jones struggled. In the estimation of Pro Football Focus, he finished as the 102nd-best corner out of 116 qualified players, and he yielded a 62.8% completion percentage and 98.5 QB rating as the nearest defender. Plus, with Pierce having received his walking papers this offseason, there were no personal ties that might have allowed Jones to stick around.
After the impending Jones departure, Jakorian Bennett, Decamerion Richardson, and free agent addition Eric Stokes comprise the top of the Raiders’ CB depth chart. Of course, the club could look to bolster that group in the draft.
Because Jones’ $3.4MM salary for 2025 is not guaranteed, his departure will result in the full amount of that salary being credited back to Las Vegas’ cap.