Nazair "Naz" Jones (born December 13, 1994) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

defensive tackle. He played college football at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

Professional career

On December 9, 2016, Jones released a statement through his Instagram account and announced his decision to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

. Jones attended the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foo ...

in Indianapolis and performed the majority of drills, but elected to skip the bench press, short shuttle, and three-cone drill. On March 13, 2017, Jones participated at North Carolina’s pro day and chose to perform the 40-yard dash (5.15s), 20-yard dash (2.99s), 10-yard dash (1.77s), bench press (18 reps), broad jump (8’10”), and short shuttle (4.64s). At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Jones was projected to be a third round pick by NFL draft scouts and analysts. He was ranked the eighth best defensive tackle prospect in the draft by DraftScout.com and was ranked the 18th best defensive tackle by Scouts Inc.

Seattle Seahawks

2017

The Seattle Seahawks selected Jones in the third round (102nd overall) of the

. Jones was the sixth defensive tackle drafted in 2017. On May 11, 2017, the Seattle Seahawks signed Jones to a four-year, $3.17 million

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

that includes a signing bonus of $706,288. Throughout training camp, Jones competed to be a backup defensive tackle against Garrison Smith, Jeremy Liggins, and

Shaneil Jenkins Shaneil Jenkins (born February 7, 1994) is a gridiron football defensive end who is a free agent. He played college football at Shepherd University. He signed with the Denver Broncos as an undrafted free agent following the 2016 NFL Draft. Ear ...

. Head coach

Pete Carroll Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American football coach who is the head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the head football coach at USC from ...

named Jones the third defensive tackle on the depth chart to begin the regular season, behind Sheldon Richardson and Jarran Reed. He made his professional regular season debut in the Seattle Seahawks’ season-opener at the Green Bay Packers and recorded one solo tackle, deflected a pass, and returned an interception for a touchdown during their 17–9 loss. Jones made his first career interception off a pass attempt by Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers, that was originally a screen pass intended for tight end

Lance Kendricks Lance Ronnie Kendricks (born January 30, 1988) is a former American football tight end. He played college football at Wisconsin, where he was recognized as a consensus All-American. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the second round of t ...

, and returned it for a 64-yard touchdown in the first quarter. However, his touchdown was nullified due a penalty on

Cliff Avril Clifford Samuel Avril (born April 8, 1986) is a former American football defensive end. He played college football at Purdue and was drafted in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. He has also played for the Seattle Seahaw ...

for an illegal block in the back during the return. The Packers declined another penalty on cornerback Jeremy Lane who was ejected for throwing a punch during the play. On November 5, 2017, Jones earned his first career start after Sheldon Richardson suffered an oblique injury and was listed as inactive. Jones finished the Seahawks’ 17–14 loss to the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

with three combined tackles and was also credited with half a sack. The following week, Jones recorded two solo tackles and made his first career solo sack during a 22–16 victory at the Arizona Cardinals in Week 10. Jones’ first career solo sack was on Cardinals’ quarterback

Drew Stanton Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

for an eight-yard loss in the fourth quarter. In Week 11, he collected a season-high four combined tackles as the Seahawks lost 34–31 to the Atlanta Falcons. On December 30, 2017, the Seattle Seahawks officially placed Jones on injured reserve after he was inactive for four games (Weeks 13–16) due to a high ankle sprain in Week 12. Jones completed his rookie season in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

with 19 combined tackles (ten solo), three pass deflections, two sacks, and one interception in 11 games and two starts.

2018

On January 16, 2018, the Seattle Seahawks announced their decision to fire defensive coordinator Kris Richard and hire their former linebacker coach

Ken Norton Jr. Kenneth Howard Norton Jr. (born September 29, 1966) is an American football coach and former linebacker who most recently served as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL) from 2018 to 2021. H ...

to be Richard’s successor. During training camp, Jones competed to be a starting defensive tackle against

Shamar Stephen Shamar Irvin Stephen ( ; born February 25, 1991) is an American football defensive end who is a free agent. He played college football at UConn. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the seventh round, 220th overall, of the 2014 NFL Draft. ...

after it was left vacant by the departure of Sheldon Richardson. Head coach Pete Carroll named Jones the fourth defensive tackle on the depth chart to begin the regular season, behind Jarran Reed, Tom Johnson, and Shamar Stephen. Jones was inactive as a healthy scratch for the Seattle Seahawks’ 27–24 loss at the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

in their season-opener. Jones was also inactive, as a healthy scratch, for the Seahawks’ 33–31 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5.

2019

On August 27, 2019, Jones was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. On May 4, 2020, Jones was released by the Seahawks. Jones had a tryout with the Chicago Bears on August 20, 2020.

Buffalo Bills

On June 22, 2021, Jones signed a contract with the Buffalo Bills. He was waived on July 16, 2021.

Retirement

On July 18, 2021, two days after being waived by the Buffalo Bills, Jones announced his retirement from the NFL via Instagram. In the same post, he announced he would be shifting his focus to his mentoring program, Made Mentoring.

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bioSeattle Seahawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Nazair 1994 births Living people American football defensive tackles Buffalo Bills players North Carolina Tar Heels football players People from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina Seattle Seahawks players