Whenever Jalen Hurts is asked about a defense the Eagles are about to face, he always says, “They fly around.”
New Eagles cornerback Jonathan Jones literally flies around.
Jones is a certified pilot, and on Wednesday he flew from Charlotte to Philadelphia in his Daher TBM single-engine turboprop before formally signing his one-year contract with the Eagles.
“Hopped over from Charlotte today over to here,” he said on a Zoom call after landing. “It was a quick flight. Anytime I can fly, I love it.”
Jones earned his pilot’s license in April of 2023 after taking flying lessons at Norwood Airport outside Boston while he was still with the Patriots.
Now he flies whenever he has the chance.
“Found a little passion for aviation a few years back,” Jones said. “And so it’s something, a little hobby of mine that I enjoy doing.
“I’m always looking for new hobbies. And I grew up as a country boy. And so always outside, bikes, four wheelers, and it was just kind of my nich. Got exposed to general aviation, took a discovery flight and I fell in love with it.
“It was kind of nice to have the approach (Wednesday morning) over the Delaware River. It was kind of a nice touch for the morning.”
Jones is pretty interesting even without the aviation side of things. He’s going into his 11th season in the NFL, the first nine with the Patriots and last year with the Commanders. He’s played in 144 games, starting 78, including seven last year.
With the Eagles, he’ll back up both outside and in the slot, adding depth to a cornerback room that already has Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Riq Woolen and Michael Carter Jr.
“I just love aggression,” Jones said. “I love to fly around on the field, make plays, support my teammates and just just try to be a cerebral player and try to dissect offenses and really understand how they’re trying to attack us and just go out there and compete.
“I think I have a good philosophy of how defenses are good at stopping offenses and eliminating explosive plays. As a cornerback, you play long enough, you realize you’re not going to stop every play. You start to learn which plays are the important plays that you have to make and which become game-changing plays.”
Jones said he’s admired the Eagles from afar both during his tenure with the Patriots – he was hurt and didn’t play in Super Bowl LII in New England – and last year with Washington.
“I kind of admire what this team’s been building over the last few years and just kind of some of the dominance they’ve been performing across the league year in and year out,” he said. “
“You watch week in and week out, finding ways to win and saying relavent. I think that’s so hard in this league. Every team has good players but just finding that chemistry in the team to still be relevant to make the playoffs. I think that’s special year in and year out. Because a lot of teams will be in the playoffs one year and you might not hear from them for three or four more years so to be back in the playoffs (every year) just the tradition this team has, that is kind of my calling card.”
Jones has crafted a pretty fair career for a guy who was undrafted out of Auburn.
His 144 career games played are most by an active undrafted defensive back and 7th-most among active position players.
“I just love the game of football,” he said. “I was joking with my wife. I was like, ‘You know, even when I’m done playing football, if I could find a park to play some football, I’m going to continue to do it.’
“I just I love the game of football. I always have. I can’t remember like before football. Every fall since I was 4 I’ve been playing football. Soit’s just what I know.”