Nearly three years after a horrific car accident that almost took his life and forced him to undergo more than 10 surgeries on a weakened left leg, former New York Giants safety Chad Jones is abandoning his comeback to the NFL.
Jones, a former LSU defensive back, is reportedly shifting his focus to baseball. Following visits with the Eagles and Saints over the last several months, Jones has officially halted his comeback efforts to pursue a pro baseball career, Fletcher Mackel of WDSU in New Orleans reported.
Before Jones was a member of the Tigers’ 2007 national championship team in football and their 2009 College World Series’ championship squad, the Astros drafted him with a 13th round pick out of high school. In 2010, the Brewers selected the left-handed pitcher with a 50th round selection in the Major League Baseball Draft. Milwaukee made the selection roughly seven weeks after the Giants took the 6-3, 231 pound safety with a third-round pick in the NFL draft.
Jones, who is one of only two college athletes to win both a BCS National Championship and a College Baseball national championship, reportedly had his fastball clocked as fast as 91 miles per hour as a member of the Tigers. In the 2009 college baseball season, Jones recorded seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings, while posting a 2.70 ERA. He also started eight of 27 games in the outfield.
Less than a month after being drafted by the Brewers, Jones was transported to the Trauma Center at LSU’s Public Hospital after he lost control of his Range Rover and hit a streetcar pole in an early-morning accident on June 25, 2010. Firefighters and other emergency personnel spent more than 20 minutes extricating Jones from the mangled SUV. Doctors were nearly forced to amputate his left leg during emergency surgery.
Following a grueling rehabilitation process, Jones ran a 4.84 in the 40-yard dash in October of 2011. The Giants waived Jones last May, after the defensive back suffered a setback with his injured leg.
“(Jones had) residual sensory loss, muscle weakness, and tenuous soft tissue coverage in the involved lower leg (and) the resultant functional impairment precludes his ability to perform physically at the level required for professional football,” Dr. Scott Rodeo, a Giants' associate team physician told the New York Daily News at the time.
It is not immediately known if Jones has been invited to workout for a Major League team in hopes of earning a minor-league contract. Messages left with Rocky Arceneaux, Jones’ agent, were not returned on Thursday.
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