Patriots rookie DE Chandler Jones almost ended up with the Jets

The Jets showed heavy interest in Jones before the 2012 Draft, but they took Quinton Coples instead. Now the Jets get to see what they missed out on when the Patriots host the Jets on Sunday.

By Nick Underhill

Oct 19, 2012 at 5:51 pm ET • 1 min read

Chandler Jones nearly became a member of the New York Jets (AP)

Chandler Jones almost ended up being a member of Gang Green.

The New England Patriots defensive end drew heavy interest from the New York Jets during the pre-draft process, to the point that he believed he was going to be on the other side of this weekend’s game between two of the NFL’s most heated rivals.

“Yeah, they showed a lot of interest. They showed a lot of interest,” Jones said, repeating himself for impact.

But the Jets decided to take DE Quinton Coples with the 16^th pick instead, allowing the Patriots to get Jones at No. 21.

Considering Jones has five sacks to 1.5 for Coples, it looks like New England got the better end of the deal.

“I went up there and he sat me down, we went over a few schemes, basically what every team does with you,” Jones recalled of his visit. “We talked about my brother [UFC fighter Jon “Bones” Jones] for a little.”

Now Jones will look to show Jets coach Rex Ryan what he missed out on when the teams meet Sunday in Foxborough, as he’ll attempt to bring the mentality that the New York coach was so keen on learning about during his visit.

“If you want to call this a big game, personally for me it’ll be a big game,” Jones said. “That’s my UFC fighting mentality every week.”

Injury Report: The Patriots ruled out S Steve Gregory (hip), RB Brandon Bolden (knee) and LB Tracy White (foot) for Sunday. Here is the rest of the injury report:

Questionable: DL Ron Brace (back), S Patrick Chung (shoulder), WR Julian Edelman (hand), TE Rob Gronkowski (hip), TE Aaron Hernandez (ankle), LB Dont'a Hightower (hamstring), OL Logan Mankins (calf/hip), OL Nick McDonald (shoulder), CB Sterling Moore (knee), OL Sebastian Vollmer (back/knee), WR Wes Welker (ankle). Probable: DL Kyle Love (knee).