Where is landry jones from

But every Sunday, he was back at home, watching games with his wife from a couch. In late October, Jones signed a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars to be their third-stringer when the team thought Blake Bortles might be injured. Jones moved his then-pregnant wife and two toddlers to Jacksonville. Three weeks later, he was released. After that, he tried a more desperate approach. No freakin' way this guy still has the same number , Landry thought.

He cold-called, and Gruden answered. Landry and his wife felt stuck. Each enrolled in online master's classes -- Whitney in counseling, Landry in finance -- as a contingency plan in case football was over. But Landry couldn't picture what his future looked like without the sport he loved. Soon after he was released from the Steelers, Charlie Ebersol -- the guy who'd founded the latest attempt at a spring football league, the Alliance of American Football -- called to see if Jones wanted to play for the San Antonio Commanders in the league's inaugural season.

The two swapped a handful of calls. Ebersol offered Jones a seven-figure salary. But whenever Jones asked how he'd be paid, the responses were murky. Eventually, Jones declined the offer. He was wary of this league and of secondary football leagues in general.

Each one failed -- mainly due to money issues -- and soon, so would the AAF. Nine weeks after it began, Ebersol and the league filed for bankruptcy midseason. That's why Jones was suspicious when he received a similar phone call from Bob Stoops in February Days earlier, Stoops had made national news when he unretired to become the first head coach in the XFL -- yet another spring football league, one that would begin in , 20 years after the first and only season of the league's previous iteration.

All of those things that touch football will be fundamentally different than what was around in The league would target guys with college and NFL experience who were stuck on sidelines or practice squads with little opportunity to improve.

Now, Stoops was pitching his former college quarterback on the idea of pairing up again. Jones trusted and respected Stoops. He knew his old coach would never get involved in something that wasn't legitimate. But the opportunity didn't excite him. Landry wanted to play in the NFL and wondered whether a gamble on this experimental league would only postpone the inevitable. Football would end at some point, and maybe it already had.

With two toddlers and a third baby on the way, was he wasting his time? He told Stoops he'd think about it. Other than that, Jones spent his workday demo-ing homes, then driving the dump trailer to the landfill. There was a tangible sense of accomplishment to this job. When the dump trailer was full, he'd drive to the landfill and empty it. When a wall needed to be removed, he'd smash it to bits. He loved seeing a closed-off kitchen transform into a big, open dining room, knowing he had played a role.

Even better, he started every morning surrounded by his family with a short commute to the office. Often, on the drive back home, he'd reflect on his NFL career. What was I doing? Why was I even doing it if I wasn't really enjoying it? Whitney noticed a change too. It was the simple things that made him happy, like having somewhere to be every weekday morning.

But there was something else. Years ago, she herself went through the transition of leaving her athlete identity behind after starring on the Oklahoma basketball team.

So it's kind of awkward to get back into the real world," she says. That usually happens when you're 22, so you feel a little late to the game. Him discovering other interests and navigating those waters is probably why he found so much peace.

But one month in at Black Door, Jones received a call from the Raiders. The team wanted to fly him in for a workout, and Jones felt the pull. After speaking with Whitney, he said yes. Then he called his boss.

Huffman asked if everything was OK, and Jones explained the situation. The audition went well. Jones signed a contract with Oakland on March 26, becoming the fourth quarterback on the roster. He'd fly in during the week to practice, then fly back to his family in Fort Worth on the weekend.

The travel was tough, but Jones was swept back up in his NFL dream. He loved Gruden and the team's offensive scheme. He grew close with starting quarterback Derek Carr. He saw himself succeeding in Oakland. But it doesn't feel like it. There are no black and light-blue banners outside the stadium. No "Welcome Renegades fans! Inside, the stadium is still transitioning from baseball diamond to football field. Outside, the XFL still feels like an idea.

The Oakland audition had Jones craving football again. He didn't return to Black Door. Jones thought his playing days might be over and had begun working a construction job, but he kept hearing about a new football league set to launch in the spring of He was wary, yet repeated conversations with people in the XFL — including Stoops — helped assuage his fears. He was sold. Jones can accept whatever the future holds in his football career because he has placed his identity in Jesus, rather than in the sport he loves.

In a video with I Am Second from , Jones tells his testimony and recounts how God changed his life while at Oklahoma by freeing him from his empty pursuit of earthly things:. Now in the freedom that Christ provides, Jones embraces the next chapter in his life as an XFL quarterback.

Whether or not he succeeds and returns to the top of his sport, he knows that God will be there with him. Jones will make his first start for the Renegades when they take on the L.

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