Flip the Script: Adam Jones Takes on Leadership Role with Cincinnati Bengals

The 2014 NFL season has been marred by mug shots and court dates, most notably for Pro Bowl players Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice.

Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, the player who once went by "Pacman" and was known as the poster boy for NFL troublemakers is quietly leading the league in punt return average (16.5 yards) and ranks among the league's top 20 cornerbacks, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

He hasn't been much of a media focal point since being found not guilty of assaulting a woman outside a Cincinnati nightclub in June 2013.

"I think some of this stuff is bittersweet," says Adam Jones. "It's a media-driven league."

Perhaps even more so than when he was in the spotlight.

"Ray Rice gets into it, and he's suspended indefinitely," Jones says. "Things have changed that they're not allowing now.

"I'll talk to anyone willing to ask and listen. I wouldn't want nobody to go through what I went through. And right now, you do what I did, you probably would be in the league but a year."

Al Behrman/Associated Press

Early in his career, it didn't look like Jones would be in the league long: He was arrested and charged with felony vandalism after an altercation at a nightclub in July 2005; he was charged (later dropped) with marijuana possession in February 2006; and among several charges was one count of felony "coercion" related to the infamous "making it rain" incident at a Las Vegas strip club that left one person shot and another paralyzed in February 2007. For the latter arrest, Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season.

But Jones is in the midst of his eighth NFL season, his fourth with the Bengals. Now 31, he has emerged as one of the leaders of a franchise long known to have harbored many of the NFL's bad seeds. Controversy has been avoided this season, though, and the Bengals are preparing to face Rice's former team, the Baltimore Ravens. Jones volunteers in his adopted home of Cincinnati and his hometown of Atlanta, he speaks at the NFL's Rookie Symposium, drawing rave reviews, and he spends his free time with his family and on the golf course.

"If someone asked you five years ago how this movie would end, it would be tragically. Everyone thought it would have this Thelma (and) Louise or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid type of ending," says Jones' agent, Peter Schaffer. "But the best part of it is, it's going to have an incredibly boring ending. And I couldn't be happier."

A Role Model 

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

Given a chance, Jones doesn't gush about his volunteer efforts. He mentions the Special Olympics, but he doesn't mention Rothenberg Preparatory Academy in Cincinnati or the Georgia Wheelchair Athletic Association in Atlanta.

Earlier this year, Jarvis Brown wanted to establish an organization to help wheelchair-bound athletes like himself. For the kickoff event, Brown wanted to invite an athlete.

Brown grew up in South Atlanta, and he was born with cerebral palsy. His left arm and his legs are impaired, so he has always needed a wheelchair. His biological father wasn't in his life, and his mother was a cocaine addict.

His grandmother worked many hours at a laundromat to support him, but they struggled to pay the utility bills.

Brown's life, though, changed when his older brother Terrance Colbert died in a motorcycle accident in 2006.

"We were very, very close," says Brown, who was 16 when his brother died. "He was my father and my brother and my uncle, all in one."

Brown's mother kicked her addiction, and Brown pushed himself, earning two certifications from Georgia State University. He's proud that he's a Microsoft-certified specialist, and he also works part-time as a customer service specialist at Home Depot.

When he started the Georgia Wheelchair Athletic Association, Brown immediately thought of one athlete he wanted to invite to his first event: Adam Jones.

Brown felt a kinship to Jones, whose father was killed in a robbery in 1991. He'd tracked Jones' career at West Virginia, and his myriad issues early in his NFL career.

"I can relate to some of the things Adam went through, because I experienced the same things," Brown says.

But Brown lives by a mantra that he repeats several times Thursday morning.

"It's not about how you start," he says, "but it's how you finish."

Brown reached out to Schaffer and asked if Jones would appear at his fundraiser at an Omega Boutique store in Atlanta. On Feb. 22, Jones addressed 60-plus people.

"He motivated us and encouraged us to keep pushing and be active, and striving for greatness in life," Brown recalls.

After he was done speaking, Jones signed autographs and posed for pictures for anyone who wanted them.

And he stayed for the entire event, all two hours.

"He did a meet and greet. He spoke to us," Brown says. "He gave us words of encouragement. Pictures. He just put smiles on everyone's faces."

Jarvis Brown

The money raised from that event will go toward purchasing wheelchairs and gym space so wheelchair athletes can compete in basketball, soccer, football and rugby, among other sports.

Since then, Jones communicates monthly with Brown, who also talks to Jones' wife and Schaffer regularly.

"Adam is a great guy, and he's really good in the community," Brown says. "I think as individuals, we all go through ups and downs in life. But to me, it's not how you start, it's how you finish.

"I've never felt as motivated as I do now, to keep going, simply because I met Adam. I look up to him like a big brother."

Turning it Around 

David Kohl/Associated Press

Jones doesn't have any problem admitting that he took things for granted at the start of his NFL career, when he was the sixth overall pick in the 2005 NFL draft.

"At the time, you're young. You don't realize that playing football is a privilege," Jones says. "I can't live in regret because you'll never get to where you want to be. God does everything for a reason."

During the 2008 NFL season, while with the Dallas Cowboys, Jones suffered a neck injury that some believed could threaten his career.

In Dallas, though, Jones met David Wells, a former private investigator who also was a successful local bail bondsman. Wells earned a reputation for helping reform players such as current Cowboys star receiver Dez Bryant. The two became close, and Wells considers Jones like a "little brother."

"He realized he had one last opportunity to make it," Wells says. "I think he made life-change decisions to cut back on drinking and start to live his life right. 

"I'll go to war with a guy like him."

Wells says Jones doesn't boast about the positive things he does for others. But Wells has seen Jones buy food for homeless people and give them cash.

And Wells will never forget what Jones did two years ago.

Jones was on an island vacation with his then-fiancee when he got word that Wells' mother died.

Jones immediately left his vacation and flew to Dallas. 

"I was distraught," Wells said. "He knew how much my mom meant to me. But he surprised me at my home, on the day of her funeral.

"That's the kind of guy he is."

In May 2010, Jones signed a two-year deal with the Bengals, appearing in five games that season. In 2011, he started seven games.

When asked what his turning point was, Jones referred to the birth of his youngest daughter, Trinity, who is 4 years old.

"I think when I had my last little girl it clicked for me, her being early, knowing that she was fighting for her life," Jones says. "Then you realize that you can't take nothing for granted."

Jones declined to get into specifics about his daughter's birth, but he's a doting father who often posts pictures of himself with his children on his Facebook page.

Schaffer officiated Jones' wedding in Atlanta earlier this year, and he's proud of his client for the man he's become.

Al Behrman/Associated Press

"He's not out there, burning the candle at both ends. He's focused," Schaffer says. "He is in the classroom studying, he's taking notes, and he has a big leadership role (in the Bengals locker room).

"Then he spends his time with his family and playing golf."

Last year, NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent, a five-time Pro Bowl defensive back, marveled at how impactful Jones was in speaking to rookies.

"It was raw, it was unfiltered. That's what we need," Vincent said, according to NFL Media.

Vincent also noted: "He realizes that some of the decisions he's made early on in his career potentially could impact him for the rest of his life... He's a contributor in how the game evolves."

"I'm watching a young man mature," Vincent continued, "someone who came in one way and has now transformed his life. Thank God he has another opportunity... There's nothing like Adam's story."

In the Bengals locker room, veterans often say, "Don't be that guy..."

Jones is proud that he isn't anymore.

"They see how I walk now," Jones says, "and they try to follow my lead."

For 16 years, Sean Jensen served as a beat writer or NFL columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, (St. Paul) Pioneer Press and Chicago Sun-Times. He has also been an NFL contributor or columnist for AOL Sports, Yahoo Sports, Sporting News, Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine.