Countdown to Kickoff: 28 Days

The countdown to kickoff continues.

The Tennessee Titans will open the 2020 regular season Sept. 14 at Denver. That is 28 days away. So, today we look at one way the number 28 figures into the team’s recent history.

No player made more headlines – not all of them were good – in a shorter period with the Tennessee Titans than Adam “Pacman” Jones.

The sixth overall selection in the 2005 NFL Draft was an undeniable athletic talent who could run with or away from just about anyone on a football field but – during his time in Tennessee, at least – could not stay out of his own way off the field.

Before the Titans gave up and traded him, he started just 28 games and sat out one full season for disciplinary reasons. Of the franchise’s first-round picks of the Titans era (1999-present) no longer with the franchise, only two – Jake Locker and Andre Woolfolk – started fewer games for Tennessee.

Jones had played two years for the Titans when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him for the entire 2007 season. The decision came following his alleged role in a Las Vegas nightclub shooting. He eventually was charged for felony coercion, to which he pleaded no contest.

Prior to that, Jones had been arrested three times – once each in Nashville, Murfreesboro, Tenn. and Fayetteville, Ga. – and was involved in a 12-person altercation at a Nashville gas station during which shots were fired.

Charges were dismissed in two of the first three arrests and he was sentenced to six months of probation for the Murfreesboro incident.

When he was in uniform for the Titans, however, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound cornerback was electric. In 2006, he led the NFL when he averaged 12.9 yards on punt returns and tied a franchise record with three touchdowns on punt returns. He also ranked among the top 10 in kickoff returns and even played some offense, where he caught two passes and ran the ball twice.

At his primary position, he intercepted four passes, which he returned a total of 130 yards (he returned one 83 yards for a touchdown). Jones led Tennessee as a rookie with 12 passes defensed and was second with 14 the next year and averaged 60 tackles per season.

Ultimately, he had a long, productive career (12 years, 146 games), the bulk of it with Cincinnati.

The Titans did not get as much from him as they hoped – and did get a lot more than they wanted.