Former Alabama cornerback Cyrus Jones entered the NFL in 2016 by way of the New England Patriots second-round pick. His professional football career was abruptly put on hold when team doctors for the Denver Broncos discovered he had an undiagnosed heart condition that required open heart surgery.
The discovery was made in November of 2019 in Denver after was was cut by the Baltimore Ravens and he signed with the Broncos. When he got to the high-altitude city, he met with team doctors because he wasn’t feeling well.
Now, after successful open-heart surgery, the Crimson Tide product is eyeing a return to the NFL, he tells the Baltimore Sun.
“When you go through something like that, it forces you to dig deep and kind of figure out who you truly are, what you’ve really got in you and how much you’re willing to sacrifice to get back out there and chase your dream again,” said Jones. “I found out that I’m even more unbreakable than I thought I was. I’ve been through a lot in my career and having all that thrown on top of it definitely could have been a catastrophic thing. I could have just kind of given up, but that’s never been me.”
Jones has spent three years in the league on three different teams serving as a return specialist, but can’t seem to find a long-term landing spot.
He’s appreciative Baltimore cut him, because without that happening, he never would have had his life saved.
“If I would have not got cut by Baltimore, I would have never found out what was really going on with me,” Jones said. “The congenital thing I was born with, that was overlooked my whole life — luckily, the unfortunate didn’t happen. They say the majority of the time, you never know until the worst thing happens — you drop dead — and, after the fact, they figure it out. So somebody has been watching over me this whole time, for 26 years.”
Roll Tide Wire will keep you updated on Cyrus Jones as he looks to return to the NFL!
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]