The Patriots dealt Chandler Jones to Arizona on Monday for a 2016 2nd round pick (the 61st pick of the draft) and former 1st round guard Jonathan Cooper. Jones was part of a young defensive core including Jamie Collins, Donta Hightower, and Malcolm Butler who were entering the final years of their cheap rookie contracts. It would have been impossible to re-sign all of them, and once Oliver Vernon signed a deal worth roughly $758 million in New York, the clock started running on Chandler's time in New England. Vernon wasn't as productive as Jones last season (7.5 sacks, 0 Forced Fumbles, 0 interceptions to CJ's 12.5 Sacks, 4 Forced Fumbles, and 1 INT) and still got the most guaranteed money ever given to a defensive end. Jones will command a ridiculous contract at the end of next season and the Patriots were never going to give it to him. A lot of people will speculate that Jones had fallen out of favor in New England after he showed up to a police station shirtless and barefoot high on that sweet, sweet spice, but this was strictly a business decision. Dealing Jones now frees up some much needed cap space and gets some reasonable return on their first round investment.
As far as his legacy in New England? He won a Super Bowl, and anyone that's ever won us a Super Bowl is always cool in my book. I never ever remember Chandler Jones making even one play once December hit every year, so I won't particularly miss him. He's been injury prone and further prone to disappearing in playoff games. In 9 career playoff games he had two sacks. Von Miller sacked Tom Brady 35 times in the AFC Championship. Hopefully the extra cash the Pats saved goes directly into the wallets of Collins, Butler, and Hightower. In that order.
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