An automobile accident robbed Chad Jones of an NFL career. So he's simply pursuing another professional sports career instead.
Jones will try to latch on with the Cincinnati Reds, who selected him in the ninth round of the Major League Baseball draft on Friday.
Jones was a two-sport star at LSU but chose football when he graduated. The New York Giants selected him as a safety in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft.
That summer, however, Jones wrecked his SUV, smashing it into a pole at dawn in New Orleans. Reports indicated that he shattered his tibia and fibula on his left leg, as well as broke his left ankle. USA Today added that his arteries and nerves in the leg were left exposed.
USA Today went on to say that Jones has been in rehabilitation of his leg ever since the accident, but the Giants waived him in May of 2012 after he failed a physical.
Jones originally played in the outfield at LSU but was also a relief pitcher during the Tigers' 2009 College World Series championship team. He won a national championship with both the LSU baseball team and football team in 2007.
The Reds will try him out as a pitcher.
"Jones was an exceptional athlete who showed first-round potential as both an outfielder and a left-handed pitcher despite never focusing on baseball," according to Baseball America's Jim Callis. "He was a 6-foot-3, 220-pounder with above-average power potential, speed and arm strength as a right fielder, not to mention an 88-93 mph fastball and power slider on the mound."
CBSSports.com reports that Jones' fastball is back in the 90 mile-per-hour range and the movement on his slider has returned.
According to CBS, Jones has been drafted by MLB three different times. The Houston Astros took him in the 13th round of the 2007 draft, and the Milwaukee Brewers took him in the 50th round of the 2010 draft.
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