Chandler Jones Might Have Finally Hit Rock Bottom as He's Arrested for Violating a Restraining Order

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You know that part in Pulp Fiction where Jules is telling Vincent about how surviving that shooting is giving him "what alcoholics call 'a moment of clarity,'" and it's inspiring him to change his life? Well in a perfect world, that's what has just happened to Chandler Jones. Because first he was claiming he had been taken by a group of unnamed men to a mental hospital where they injected him with an unnamed substance. Next, he seemed to completely go off the deep end on social media:

… including, though by no means limited to, this deeply troubled, tear-filled rant about believing Aaron Hernandez didn't kill himself in prison and implicating Josh McDaniels, of all people:

… it seems like he's finally fallen as far as a grown adult can. He's been arrested:

Source - The 33-year-old All-Pro was booked into Clark County Detention Center in Nevada around midnight … where Jones still remains behind bars.

The exact details surrounding the arrest are currently unclear, but our sources tell us Chandler violated a protective order, so cops responded and arrested him. …

Our law enforcement sources tell us the Super Bowl champion was cooperative while being taken into custody.

Which, if you care at all about the man, should probably be considered good news. First, because no one was hurt. Second, because this opens him up to a whole system of support meant to treat people who are a threat to themselves and to others. I say again, I don't want to play amateur Freud here. But Jones has been flashing all the warning lights and sounding all the alarms of someone that describes to a tee. 

The Raiders sound like they have been recognizing that all along:

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As far as the arrest itself, it sounds like he violated it either by approaching whoever took out the restraining order against him - meaning physically coming within the stay-away distance specified in the order, or by contacting that person. I can tell you from working in the Massachusetts court system, that the "contact" provision also includes "third party contact." For example, "Listen, my brother just wants to talk to you" and so on. 

And before we hop on our Jump to Conclusion Mat and assume that because the term "DOM VIOLENCE" appears in the charge that means Jones is an abuser - thereby disqualifying him from my sympathy, I can promise you that, because fuck those people - a protective order doesn't necessarily mean there was violence involved. I'm sure every state is different, but in Mass, the standard is "imminent fear of serious, physical harm." Which is certainly not a thing you ever want to inflict on another human being. And should not be forgiven. But there are millions of these things issued to people who have never laid a violent hand on somebody else. To be clear, Jones may have gotten violent. We simply don't know. But this is a distinction that just needs to be kept in mind as the public sits in judgment here. 

Which leaves us … I don't know where. Ideally, whoever took out this protective order and felt threatened enough to call the police stays safe and gets to live their life in peace and free from feeling threatened. And that Jones successfully fights off whatever demons have taken him down this troubled path from 1st round pick to Super Bowl champion to two time All Pro to member of the NFL's 2010s All Decade Team to $51 million contract to a slow motion trainwreck in the public eye to jail. A prisoner in his own mind to literal prisoner. 

Oh, how I miss the days when the worst thing this guy did was show up at the Foxboro Police Station without a shirt on the coldest day of the year during a playoff bye week. Those were simpler times.