Pac Man Jones
He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans sixth overall in the 2005 NFL Draft. Adam Jones won the TNA World Tag Team Championship with Ron Killings and beat the tag team of Sting and Kurt Angle at No Surrender.
Jones was suspended from the NFL for the entire 2007 season for off-the-field conduct. During his suspension Jones signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), despite an agreement between TNA and the Titans organization that he would only have a "non-physical" role in the company. He also established a record label, "National Street League Records," and performed as one half of the Posterboyz rap duo.
Early years
Growing up Adam Jones was a wrestler for his High School Westlake.
He was on the freshman team for one year and was on varsity for three years. Jones was selected as the conference "Player of the Year" following his senior year after totaling 120 tackles, six interceptions and 1,850 rushing yards.
Jones was raised by his mother, Deborah Jones, and his grandmother, Cristine Jones, for most of his life. When Jones was a freshman at West Virginia University, his grandmother died of cancer.
Jones missed a game to attend the funeral, the only game he missed in his three-year collegiate career. As a freshman in 2002, Jones appeared in 11 games for West Virginia as a reserve cornerback and safety.
During 2003, he appeared in all 13 games, starting 9 at cornerback, and taking over full-time kick return and punt return duties. Jones' second season resulted in a second team All-Big East Conference selection with his career-high 89 tackles and four interceptions, one being for a touchdown.
He also had six tackles for losses, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. He also had a career-high 12 broken up passes that season as well.
In one of his best games of the year, against Boston College, Jones scored two touchdowns in a 35-28 win over the Eagles, one a 87-yard kick return and the other a 47-yard interception return. Jones also played briefly on offense, as well as returning punts and kick-offs for the second season.
He led the team with 76 tackles, also adding two sacks, three interceptions, and seven broken up passes. He even had a long touchdown run against UConn that was called back due to a penalty.
He is also ranked eleventh on the school's career punt return yardage list with 404 yards, while his 10.92 yards per punt return is the sixth most in school history. He was the first defensive player drafted, taken sixth overall by the Tennessee Titans in the 2005 NFL Draft.
Also in 2005, Jones traveled to Pearl Cohn High School in Nashville, Tennessee to help the school after one of its football players died in a car crash that also injured others on the team. Jones reached out to them during the season, making at least two trips to encourage the team.
Additionally, Jones donated money so Nashville firefighters and police officers could get new uniforms.
During his rookie season, he had a total of 44 tackles and 10 pass deflections, but no interceptions. Jones and Reynaldo Hill made up the only rookie duo to start at least ten games each at cornerback in the NFL.
Many Tennessee fans felt that Jones was a disappointing pick, compared to the performance of the Titans' seventh-round pick, Reynaldo Hill, who had two interceptions with 39 tackles.
At the end of his sophomore season, Jones totaled career-high 62 tackles, one sack, one forced fumble, 12 deflected passes, 4 interceptions, 130 return yards, one interception touchdown, 14 passes defended (second-team), 440 punt return yards and tied for NFL-high with three punt return touchdowns. His 12.9 yards per punt return average led the NFL, edging out Chicago's Devin Hester by a tenth of a yard, while his 26.1 yards per kick return average ranked him seventh in the league and sixth in the AFC.
Jones also caught two passes on offense for 31 yards (one for 17 yards) and rushed twice for 8 yards. The next week against Houston, Jones tied a career-high tackle total with eight, and picked off a Sage Rosenfels pass for his first career interception, and also posted his second touchdown on a punt return in his career in the fourth quarter with a 53-yard return.
On April 10, 2007, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced a one-year suspension for Jones, to be re-evaluated after the tenth regular-season game, pending disposition of current cases, which Jones appealed. Jones took out a full ad in The Tennessean, promising "he'll win back trust" of his teammates and fans." "To my family, teammates, coaches and fans, I recognize that I have lost the right to ask for your patience and understanding," Jones wrote. "The basis of the appeal … will be to clarify some of the facts and address the unprecedented punishment that was imposed," Jones wrote in the letter.
His agent has also announced that they will consider applying for reinstatement before the 2008 NFL Draft. On March 30, Jones participated at a charity basketball event, where he then signed a football for a fan with the #21, later saying that he believes he would wear the number if he ended up in Dallas with the Cowboys. NFL Network correspondent, Adam Schefter, had also described the Tennessee-Dallas trade for Jones as being "imminent". On April 1, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that he would have a decision on reinstating Jones prior to training camp, presumably in July. However, the next day, reports said that the trade is being delayed due to the Cowboys denying the request to provide a fourth-round pick and a pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.
Also, disagreements let out over whether the Cowboys would reimburse the Titans for a bonus owed to Jones. However, Adam Schefter of NFL Network reported on April 13 that trade talks had restarted, with the Cowboys offering a sixth-round pick and the Titans requesting a fourth-round pick in the 2008 draft. Jones will wait to apply for reinstatement to the NFL. If Jones is reinstated for the 2008-2009 season, the Cowboys will also give their sixth-round pick to Tennessee in 2009; if not, the Titans will have to send their fourth-round pick to the Cowboys in 2009.
According to ESPN, Jones also has reached a financial settlement with the Titans regarding his contract situation.
In the following 41-37 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles, Jones recorded four tackles and a pass deflection. On September 5, 2005, Jones was a guest at the annual Nashville Sports Council Kickoff Luncheon.
In October 2005, in a petition filed by the State of West Virginia, it was alleged that Jones had not made regular and sufficient contact with his probation officer and that he did not report his July arrest in Nashville in a timely fashion. We gotta get him focused on football, man." Moore is alleged to have said.
Jackson, was seeking an arrest warrant. However, on January 16, Jackson withdrew the warrant.
On June 21, 2008, the Associated Press reported Jones' $1.5 million home was in foreclosure.