Pacman Jones continues to help and support "generational talent" Chris Henry, Jr.
Last June at this time, we pointed out that former NFL and West Virginia cornerback Pacman Jones had been accompanying the son of former Mountaineers teammate and Bengals receiver Chris Henry on some early college recruiting trips. Jones adopted both of Henry's sons, Chris Jr. and DeMarcus.
A new item from Zak Keefer of TheAthletic.com takes a closer look at what Jones has done to guide Henry's eldest son, who is entering his sophomore year of high school.
“I actually think he’s gonna be better than his dad,” Jones said of Chris Jr. “He’s a generational talent.”
Chris Jr. is already six feet, six inches tall. He has offers from Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, USC, and West Virginia, among others.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a kid track the deep ball like him,” Jones told Keefer. “He’s more skilled than me and his dad were at his age.”
Jones and Chris Henry Sr. also had plenty of issues away from the field. Chris Sr., known as slim, died in a vehicular accident at 26. Jones had more than a half-dozen off-field incidents before being suspended for a full year. He eventually turned his career around, playing a lot longer than anyone would have expected.
“I’ll tell you this,” Jones told Keefer. “I’ll be damned if these kids make the same mistakes I did.”
It's a great gesture from Jones, the sign of the maturity that many thought he'd never display. He has found his redemption on the field, with relatively short stints in Tennessee and Dallas before spending eight years with the Bengals. This perhaps gives him true and complete redemption away from it.
And it advances the legacy of a teammate who died 14 years ago, at the age of 26. That legacy will only grow if Chris Jr. ends up becoming what Pacman already believes he will be.
