Chad Jones, a safety the Giants this past April selected in the third round of the NFL Draft, was involved in a serious car crash in New Orleans early yesterday morning. He suffered injuries that cast his football career in doubt.
Jones, 21, suffered multiple fractures to his left leg, shattering his tibia and fibula and also had arteries and nerves exposed, according to various reports. He was transported to the LSU Trauma Center in guarded condition. Doctors attempted to get blood flowing back into Jones’ left foot as he underwent several hours of surgery. He lost a great deal of blood but the main artery in his left leg was not severed.
At 5:15 p.m. local time, Jones was out of surgery.
“If it turns out where I think my son can talk, walk and breathe, then he’s going to be just fine,” Al Jones, Chad’s father, told The Post outside the hospital. “And anything after that we’ll have to deal with one day at a time.”
Jones’ SUV slammed into a streetcar pole. It was not immediately clear what caused Jones to lose control of his Range Rover in the one-car accident, but speculation is that he turned his wheel quickly trying to get out of streetcar tracks, causing the vehicle to flip over. The accident took place around 6:15 Friday morning on Carrollton Avenue, near Toulouse Street. Jones is a native of New Orleans who moved to Baton Rouge following Hurricane Katrina.
It took 20 minutes to extract Jones from the vehicle. Two men riding in the SUV with him were treated for minor injuries and not hospitalized. Police plan to run toxicology reports to see if alcohol was a factor in the crash.
According to Shereese Harper, a spokesperson for the New Orleans Police Department, Jones will be charged with “careless operation of a vehicle.”
The Giants were alerted soon after the wreck.
“We continue to gather information on Chad’s condition, and obviously our primary concern is for his health and well being,” the team said in a statement. “[General manager] Jerry Reese and his staff have maintained contact with Chad’s family throughout the day.”
Football was not on the mind of those deeply concerned for Jones’ health.
“They just said the surgery was successful,” said Al Jones, who drove nine hours with his wife from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Orleans after learning of the accident. “We just want to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers. He’s a tough guy, so you know it’s just one day at a time.”
An NFL doctor told The Post the next 24 to 36 hours will determine the extent of the trauma to Chad Jones’ left foot. If he sustained extensive soft tissue damage, his blood flow could be compromised.
“They had a lot of muscle and tissue and bone that they had to move,” Al Jones said. “The doctors were happy with what they went in and did. Surgery is always one way or the other, but we believe Chad is going to be just fine.”
Jones’ agent, Rocky Arceneaux, said he was told Jones faces a “very lengthy” rehab for his left leg, but that in time he should be able to walk and that the leg will not need to be amputated.
Jones, a football and baseball star at LSU, recently signed a four-year, $2.6 million contract with the Giants that includes a signing bonus of $825,965. The 6-foot-2, 221-pound Jones came up with a rare achievement while in college, as he won national titles in football (2007) and baseball (2009). He was a pitcher and outfielder for LSU and was twice drafted by the Houston Astros.
Jones decided to go with football and the Giants when they drafted him believed once he trained for football on a full-time basis he eventually could work his way into a starting role as a free safety. He was likely to spend his rookie year watching and learning and playing on special teams, before this accident cast so much doubt on his future.