Trying to Solve the Curious Case of Zay Jones
When Zay Jones was arrested and charged with felony vandalism last week, a lot of people didn’t give it a second thought after reading the details of the event. Which is odd, considering that the details of the event were, for lack of a better way to say it, odd. Jones was apparently in the midst of an argument with his brother, Cayleb inside of a hotel room. A video leaked by TMZ showed Jones covered in blood, completely naked, saying that he was “going to fight for Jesus”. The report also stated that Jones was attempting to jump off the balcony of the building, which was thirty floors up.
While there is no definitive version of what exactly happened that night, one can speculate what could drive a grown man to behave in such a manner. For the record, this post is purely speculation, as no details have come out about what caused this incident. Los Angeles county prosecutors have declined to press charges on Jones, but he could still be facing discipline from either the NFL or the Buffalo Bills.
I figured I would try and think about the possibilities of what might of happened to the sophomore wide receiver for the Bills.
- Synthetic Marijuana
Believe it or not, in my opinion, this could be the most likely scenario for what caused the events of that night. Synthetic Marijuana is a dangerous alternative that many NFL players must choose because of the NFL’s strict, outdated stance on marijuana. Synthetic Marijuana is typically made up with a combination of chemicals that are very harmful for the body. While the substance was added to the NFL’s banned substance list in 2016, there are still a few cases of it around. Most notable is Chandler Jones, who began behaving in a bizarre manner after smoking the substance.
2. Head Trauma
It’s no secret that head trauma can cause a person to behave differently than they normally would behave, there’s been a ton of evidence to see that throughout the years. A quick search online does not indicate that Jones was ever documented with an official concussion by a trained medical staff, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Jones has never suffered a concussion in his playing career. Often times, players will ignore the sometimes subtle signs of a concussion. Sometimes this is done intentionally to avoid missing playing time, sometimes it’s done unintentionally. Injuries before college, during a person’s most critical time in terms of brain development, are even harder to detect/document. Head Trauma can have many outcomes, including the next suggestion for what happened.
3. Mental Illness
Tre Young is a good, recent example of what mental illness can do to a professional athlete. In 2016, Young led police on a chase on an ATV, among other things that indicated unstable behavior. His mother spoke out about her concerns about her son’s mental health, and eventually he was evaluated at a mental hospital in South Florida shortly after. The bizarre behavior is sometimes seen when there is some sort of mental illness involved, and should be taken very seriously.
4. Pure Stupidity (Alcohol, Temper, Hallucinogens)
The feeling I get that this is the least likely cause of these events, but it cannot be ruled out. I guess you can classify alcohol abuse under this category, but there are just too many things that don’t add up for this to be the cause. If Jones had gotten into a dispute, how come he was in a very public place, completely naked? Why was he talking about fighting for Jesus? What compelled him to believe that jumping from a 30 story balcony would be a good idea?
