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Title : Besides "The Tackle" What Else Was Mike Jones About?
link : Besides "The Tackle" What Else Was Mike Jones About?

Besides "The Tackle" What Else Was Mike Jones About?

By John Turney 

Mike Jones, the St. Louis Rams, outside linebacker will always have a place in NFL History—you cannot tell the history of the NFL without him. But we do not suggest he's a Hall of Famer, whoever started that saying in relation to Hall of Fame candidates should explain that concept a bit further. 

It's really no standard for the Hall of Fame because there are many, many players, coaches, and contributors who are integral parts of NFL History but are not Hall of Fame candidates. Regardless, Mike Jones is an interesting NFL player win a very fine career and one who will always be a Rams fan favorite because of "The Tackle" that preserved the Rams win in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Jones was a 6-foot-1, 220 pounds imposing running back in High School and was one of the best players in the state of Missouri, earning All-State honors his senior season. On the defensive side of the ball, he was an excellent linebacker, recording 10 interceptions his senior year. He was highly recruited by colleges but chose to stay in-state and went to the University of Missouri. 

Jones was a very good fullback Mizzou leaving with 1,390 yards and 18 touchdowns rushing plus 65 career receptions for 686 yards and five touchdowns through the air. Also, he set the school record for most yards in a quarter, 104, and broke the all-time mark for receptions for a running back in a season (41) and in a career (72). He was a semi-finalist for the Doak Walker Award.

Despite all that, he was ignored in the 1991 NFL Draft despite being 6-1, and now 230 pounds with 4.6 speed. The Raiders signed him as an undrafted free agent and told him he was going to be a linebacker for them and Jones was a bit confused since he'd not played linebacker since high school.

However one of his college coaches had suggested to the Raiders that linebacker might be a position he could play in the NFL. That coach, Mike Ward, thought it might be something intriguing to Al Davis since Davis had a proclivity to change players' positions from time to time and knew that Jones has high school experience at the position. 

Surprised and grateful, Jones signed with the Silver and Black. 

As a rookie in 1991 and in 1992, Jones was excellent on special teams, and in between those two seasons he was loaned to the Sacramento Surge of the World League of American Football as an 'enhancement" player. He was the starting middle linebacker for them and led the team with 51 tackles and three sacks and the club won World Bowl II.

The 1992 Surge was an interesting team in a lot of ways. The general manager was Jack Youngblood and as teammates, Jones had Michael Sinclair who led the NFL in sacks in 1998, Bill Goldberg the famous wrestler, George Bethune who was a decent pass rusher in Frtiz Shumur's 5-linebacker nickel in the late 1980s with the Rams. Other teammates were Louis Riddick who was one of the defensive backs, now Riddick is doing commentary on Monday Night Football after a good NFL career as a player and in scouting. David Archer was the quarterback and he had NFL experience and the kicker was Cary Blanchard who went on to have a fine NFL career.

The punter, John Nies, had a brother, Eric, who starred on MTV's "Real World" series. Lee Saltz was a backup quarterback who had been a QB/gunner in the preseason for the 1987 Lions and later was a backup to Sean Salisbury in the CFL. 

Warning:  The next couple of paragraphs are NSFW—

In addition, there was a player, who will remain nameless, that was gifted in the category of male anatomy. On one occasion when the club was in London for a game against the Monarchs a small group of players went out looking for female companionship and came across a few young women offering such services.

The "gifted" player made arrangements and went into an ally while the other players waited to make sure no bobbies came by—no one wanted trouble with London police. So, as the story goes, after a couple of moments they hear the working girl, in an Eliza Doolittle-Cockney accent, "What am I supposed to do with that thing, Luv?" 

Loud cackles were heard from the teammates who were within earshot of the comment. 

Back to safe for work prose—

Jones later said in an interview that a season playing linebacker with the Surge readied him to play linebacker in the NFL but it was still another season of special teams for him in 1992.

In his third year, he earned a spot in the Raiders nickel package. Jim Haslett, the Raiders defensive coordinator, said, "We use him on about one-third of our plays and he grades out high. I am pleased with the progress he's made in the NFL".

In 1995 he earned the weak-side linebacker position in the Raiders defense. He'd proven that he was ready to play full-time, in the base as well as the sub packages. In two seasons he averaged just under 100 tackles per season (led the team both seasons) and graded well.

As the weakside linebacker, he'd play on the opposite side of the tight end, but in nickel, he'd play over the tight end. He'd do that when the Raiders ran their version of the 46 defense, he'd play just inside the tight end like Wilber Marshall did back in the halcyon days of the Bears 46 defense.