No division in football has made more news the past week than the AFC West. The biggest news was the Broncos acquiring Russell Wilson in a trade with the Seahawks. Soon thereafter – seemingly in response to the Broncos’ upgrade at QB – the Chargers added former Raiders edge rusher Khalil Mack.
Those moves had a lot of people wondering how the Raiders might counter. They already had a strong edge rushing duo in Maxx Crosby and Yannick Ngakoue, but they wanted more, so they traded away Ngakoue for CB Rock Ya-Sin and signed free agent Chandler Jones instead.
If you’re looking for an answer to a team adding Russell Wilson, you won’t find one better than adding Chandler Jones.
Jones has 107.5 sacks in his career. And a pretty good portion of those sacks have been of Wilson. To be exact, 16.5 of them. Due in large part to sharing a division with Wilson for the past six years as a member of the Arizona Cardinals.
Chandler Jones has sacked Russell Wilson 16.5 times in his career. The only player to sack a single QB more in past 10 seasons is Cam Jordan w/ 23 vs Matt Ryan
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) March 16, 2022
Jones’s jones for sacking Wilson is part of why he said he was very excited to be coming to the AFC West.
“I think I’ve sacked Russell Wilson more than I’ve sacked anyone,” Jones said in his introductory press conference Thursday.
“He’s a competitor. He’s a hell of a player. Even to have an opportunity to play against him twice a year will be fun. He thought he could get away from me (by) leaving, but I’m right here with him again, so that’s going to be fun to get after him a little bit.”
It’s important to point out that Jones said this with a big smile and that he noted he and Russell are great friends. He even went as far as to say he would be facetiming his once and once again rival quarterback.
It’s all in good fun for Jones to be excited to get after Wilson again. But it is clear the main draws for Jones to come to the Raiders was to play for DC Patrick Graham again and to team up with Maxx Crosby.
Jones played under Graham in New England where Graham was the defensive line coach and outside linebackers coach. And Crosby is considering an up-and-coming star in the NFL, having just signed a monster extension.
The two of them can tag team going after Wilson. And perhaps Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert as well.
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