Landry Jones, who was touted as the XFL ’s first signee, sustained a knee injury at Dallas Renegades practice on Tuesday and will be out for at least four weeks, the team announced. The latest stats, facts, news and notes on Landry Jones of the Las Vegas Raiders. Landry Jones became the face of the XFL when the startup league made him the first signee. Jones missed last week’s opener with a knee injury, so Sunday marked his first start in 777 days.
Landry Jones became the face of the XFL when the startup league made him the first signee. Jones missed last week’s opener with a knee injury, so Sunday marked his first start in 777 days.
“It felt great,” Jones said in his postgame interview with ABC.
The Dallas Renegades (who play in Arlington) got their first win, covering the spread in a 25-18 victory over the Los Angeles Wildcats. Jones was . . . merely OK.
Or in his words “bad.”
“We are a gritty team, and I played about as bad as you can play, and I’m very, very thankful for the win and thank God that I got out of here healthy,” said Jones, whose last game came on Dec. 31, 2017, when he led the Steelers to a 28-24 victory over the Browns.
On Sunday, Jones completed 28 of 40 passes for 305 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He was better in the second half than the first, going 11-of-14 for 128 yards and a score.
He wasn’t satisfied with anything other than the win.
“Just call a spade a spade. You know what I mean?” said Jones, who also had four carries for 13 yards. “Let’s not sugar coat things. That’s the only way you’re going to get better. We play in a public arena and for all the world to watch, so it’s not a secret that I didn’t play very good today. I’m sure I’m going to get on Twitter and have all kind of haters. A win’s a win. It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done.”
In his four seasons in Bob Stoops’ offense at Oklahoma, Jones threw for 16,646 yards and 123 touchdowns. That’s why the Renegades were a favorite to win the first XFL title.
But without Jones in the season opener, the Renegades lost to the St. Louis BattleHawks 15-9 last week.
byJenni Carlson
Landry Jones heard the question about running the football and got a little twinkle in his eye.
Thing was, the query wasn’t for him but rather for his running back teammate.
“I thought you were talking to me for a second,” Jones told the reporter.
Jones smiled.
“I thought you were talking about my scrambles,” he said Sunday after the XFL Dallas Renegades logged their first win of the season. “That is the most proud I have ever been in my life. That is the longest scramble that I’ve ever had.”
Then, he smiled some more.
Jones, if you’ll remember, wasn’t much of a smiler during his OU days. He didn’t laugh much. Didn’t crack jokes. Didn’t look like he was having all that much fun really. The former Sooner quarterback was stoic back then, even trending toward robotic.
That made it even more fun to watch him last weekend after the Renegades’ win. Whether on the sidelines or in the locker room — we see it all during the XFL broadcasts — you could tell he was happy after the game.
And it was darn near impossible not to be happy for him.
“Yeah, it felt good,” he said earlier this week by telephone from Dallas. “The more and more I played, the more comfortable I felt for sure.”
Jones hadn’t started a game in 777 days — and there was a time during that drought he didn’t know if he’d ever play again.
Jones was drafted by Pittsburgh in 2013 and spent the next few years backing up Ben Roethlisberger and making an occasional start when the franchise quarterback was injured. It wasn’t the most stable situation — being a backup never is — but by the start of the 2018 season, Jones felt his spot was secure.
Then, minutes before the cut-day deadline, he got the call he was being let go.
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He worked over the next few months to latch onto a team, even spending a few weeks on Jacksonville’s roster. But in the months after the season ended, he began thinking about life after football. Living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with wife, Whitney, a former OU basketball player, and their three children, he took a job with a construction company, learning about estimates and sales, doing demo and driving a dump truck.
Even after spending a couple months with the Raiders last offseason, he found his career trending away from football. Part of him was OK with that; he enjoyed his new normal.
But part of him missed football.
“I had heard about the XFL awhile back, so that was always kind of in my back pocket,” Jones said. “But also, I wanted to kind of prepare myself and like, ‘OK, what if? What if it never happens?’”
But the XFL did happen, and Jones was the first player signed by the league.
Even though fledgling football leagues are never sure, he came into a good situation, joining a team that practices and plays about half an hour from his house. Playing for Bob Stoops again in an Air Raid offense was pretty sweet, too.
But then came another setback. Jones injured his knee and missed all of the Renegades' training camp. Even though Jones was cleared to play the opener, Stoops decided to sit him and give him another week to heal and prepare.
Still, Jones only practiced three times before starting last weekend, and one of those practices was a walk through.
“I was pretty nervous,” Jones admitted. “You wish you would have got a full training camp. You wish you would have gotten more practices. I’ve never been injured like that, then having one week of practice and going straight to a game.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve been prepared. So, I was pretty nervous about it.”
Jones was rusty early, throwing a first-quarter interception and missing a couple throws, including at least one that seemed a for-sure touchdown.
“He was getting frustrated in the first half,” Stoops said after the game. “I said, ‘Look, man, just hang in there. It’ll come. You haven’t played in a while.’”
After another interception early in the second half, Jones started to settle in. He not only made good decisions but also made better throws. He finished the day 28 of 40 for 305 yards and one touchdown in the Dallas win.
Jones hopes to build on that performance Saturday at Seattle. Having that game Sunday at Los Angeles and another week of practice gives him a different outlook than he had only a week ago.
“I just think confidence wise, realizing I can take a hit and my knee’s fine and I feel good,” he said. “Just getting over that — the fear is worse than the actual hits.”
And Jones did take some shots. His resilience got the attention of his coach.
“The old man … ” Stoops said as he pointed to the 30-year-old Jones, causing hoots and hollers in the locker room after the game, “hung in there, got up and kept rolling. Took some shots.”
Jones smiled at that.
“Old man hasn’t played in a couple years,” Stoops said.
“A long time,” Jones replied with another smile.
Landry Jones admits the ups and downs of the past few years have changed his perspective.
His enjoyment, too.
“You never know when your last play is going to be,” he said. “Make the most of every opportunity. That's kind of how I felt about it, even out of the gate.
“I'm just gonna let it go and play aggressively and see what happens.”
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK or follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok.
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Dallas at Seattle
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Landry Jones Salary
Where: CenturyLink Field, Seattle
TV: Fox (Cox 12)
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Want to see for yourself
The XFL Dallas Renegades are on the road this weekend, but they return to Globe Life Park for three games in March. Here's a look at those upcoming home games:
March 1: 3 p.m. vs. Houston
March 7: 4 p.m. vs. New York
March 29: 5 p.m. vs. Seattle
Single-game tickets start at $24. For information or tickets, go to xfl.com/tickets or call (469) 458-9445.
Related PhotosDallas Renegades quarterback Landry Jones (12) throws the ball in the second quarter of a 25-18 win against the LA Wildcats last Sunday in Carson, Calif. [Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports]
Landry Jones Net Worth
Jenni Carlson, a sports columnist at The Oklahoman since 1999, came by her love of sports honestly. She grew up in a sports-loving family in Kansas. Her dad coached baseball and did color commentary on the radio for the high school football... Read more ›