WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.980 OK, so I have to be completely honest with you 00:00:02.980 --> 00:00:06.240 right off the bat today. Oh. Yeah, no. Usually 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.400 when we sit down to curate the stack for these 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:11.080 deep dives, we're looking for a specific concept, 00:00:11.080 --> 00:00:12.880 right? Right, like a broad historical theme. 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:15.919 Exactly. Something like the geopolitics of semiconductors 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:18.719 or the history of sourdough. We look for the 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:21.219 topic first and the people second. But today, 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:25.219 today I admit I was initially hooked by the name. 00:00:25.390 --> 00:00:27.530 It is, I mean, it is a pretty spectacular name. 00:00:27.670 --> 00:00:29.510 It sounds like a creation from a writer's room. 00:00:29.670 --> 00:00:31.289 Exactly. It sounds like something out of a comic 00:00:31.289 --> 00:00:33.530 book, or maybe a created player in a video game, 00:00:33.530 --> 00:00:36.770 where you just max out all the stats. Keith and 00:00:36.770 --> 00:00:40.549 Zone Jones. Right. You hear that, and you think, 00:00:40.670 --> 00:00:43.770 OK, this is folklore. This is a tall tale from 00:00:43.770 --> 00:00:47.600 the playground. But the more we looked into the 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:50.359 source material, the biographical records, the 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:53.060 college archives, the legal documents, the more 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:55.859 I realized that the nickname wasn't just branding. 00:00:56.100 --> 00:00:58.299 No, not at all. It was a statistical reality. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:01.140 It was a literal descriptor. We are talking about 00:01:01.140 --> 00:01:04.560 an athlete who, at his peak, was finding the 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:07.659 end zone with a frequency that defied statistical 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:11.599 probability. But I think if we just stop at the 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.920 cool nickname, we miss the much darker, more 00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:17.359 complex story underneath all of that. Right. 00:01:17.640 --> 00:01:19.480 And that's really the mission for this deep dive. 00:01:19.620 --> 00:01:21.180 We aren't just here to read a highlight reel. 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:24.400 We want to unpack the trajectory of a high performance 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.500 athlete who bridged the gap between raw amateur 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:30.379 talent and the brutal business realities of the 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:33.439 NFL in the late 80s and early 90s. Yeah. And 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:36.019 to do that. You know, we have to talk about speed. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.319 We do, and we need to be careful here, because 00:01:38.319 --> 00:01:41.200 I think in our modern era, we've become totally 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:43.560 desensitized to speed. Oh, absolutely. We watch 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:46.439 the NFL Combine on TV. We see a ticker flash, 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:49.180 4 .28, and we just scroll past it on our phones 00:01:49.180 --> 00:01:51.700 while eating a sandwich. We have normalized the 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:53.239 extraordinary. Don't you take it for granted. 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:55.420 Completely. But we are discussing Keith Jones 00:01:55.420 --> 00:01:59.159 in 1985. We need to contextualize the physics 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:01.319 of what he was actually doing. Well, the number 00:02:01.319 --> 00:02:03.859 in the stack, the official time is 4 .33 seconds. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:06.859 in the 40 -yard dash. Which is elite today. But 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:10.080 in 1985 it was alien. You have to consider the 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:12.340 surface and the timing technology of that era. 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:14.860 In the mid -80s, we were often dealing with first 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:17.280 -generation astroturf. Which is basically concrete 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:19.240 painted green, right? Exactly. It was just a 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:22.599 thin carpet over asphalt. And the timing systems 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:24.719 didn't have the laser start precision we have 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:28.039 today. So a 4 .33 on that surface, with that 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:31.039 technology, it suggests a level of explosiveness 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:33.780 that is almost difficult to quantify. And that 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:36.080 time broke the University of Nebraska record 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:38.439 held by Irving Fryer, who is a legend. in his 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:41.219 own right, but this brings up the first major 00:02:41.219 --> 00:02:43.539 insight regarding athletic development that we 00:02:43.539 --> 00:02:45.879 pulls from the sources. We usually associate 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:50.379 mass with force. In football, big hits mean big 00:02:50.379 --> 00:02:53.080 mass, but Jones was five foot nine, pouring at 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:56.139 76 pounds. Very slight for the sport. Right, 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:59.460 so biomechanically, how does a frame that slight 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:02.080 generate that kind of propulsion? It really comes 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.539 down to the power to weight ratio and fast twitch 00:03:04.539 --> 00:03:06.800 fiber composition, the sources from the Nebraska 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:08.680 Strength and Conditioning Archives, which are 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:11.159 legendary, by the way. Nebraska essentially invented 00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:12.740 modern football conditioning. Yeah, they were 00:03:12.740 --> 00:03:14.539 way ahead of their time. Yeah. They were. And 00:03:14.539 --> 00:03:16.740 those archives note that Jones wasn't a grinder. 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:19.199 He was a sprinter. I mean, he won the big eight 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.340 indoor 60 -yard dash in 6 .23 seconds. Wow. To 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:26.439 do that, your muscles have to fire with an explosiveness 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:29.360 that is almost entirely genetic. You can't teach 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.819 that twitch. You can refine it, but you can't 00:03:31.819 --> 00:03:33.979 manufacture it in a weight room. So we have this 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:36.280 character with a superhero name and superhero 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:39.360 speed. But as we went through the archives specifically 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:42.159 looking at the NFL transaction reports from the 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:44.860 Rams the Browns the Cowboys a Completely different 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:47.379 story started to emerge and much more sobering 00:03:47.379 --> 00:03:50.120 one exactly. It feels like there is this central 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:53.240 tension running through his entire life. On one 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:54.819 side, you have this Hall of Fame potential. I 00:03:54.819 --> 00:03:56.360 mean, people in the archives were constantly 00:03:56.360 --> 00:03:58.620 comparing him to Gale Sayers. Which, if you are 00:03:58.620 --> 00:04:00.800 from that area, is the highest praise you can 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:02.620 possibly get. But on the other side, you have 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:05.520 the absolute fragility of the human body and 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.939 the severe lack of labor rights for players back 00:04:08.939 --> 00:04:11.669 then. And that's the core of it. We are going 00:04:11.669 --> 00:04:14.509 to look at how a player goes from being an untouchable 00:04:14.509 --> 00:04:17.209 icon in the Big Eight Conference to fighting 00:04:17.209 --> 00:04:20.209 for his literal paycheck in an arbitration hearing. 00:04:20.730 --> 00:04:23.050 It touches on injury management, the pre -salary 00:04:23.050 --> 00:04:26.370 cap era, and the Plan B free agency system. It's 00:04:26.370 --> 00:04:28.470 a story about resilience, sure, but it's really 00:04:28.470 --> 00:04:31.430 a story about what the game takes from you. Let's 00:04:31.430 --> 00:04:33.069 rewind to the beginning so we can see how this 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:36.509 all built up. Omaha, Nebraska. Born in 1966. 00:04:37.079 --> 00:04:39.540 What do the biographical records tell us about 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:42.220 the environment that produced this kind of speed? 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:44.379 Well, the family dynamic is really important 00:04:44.379 --> 00:04:46.939 for understanding his psychological drive. He 00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:49.339 was the youngest of seven children. Seven kids. 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:52.319 That is a loud house. It's a highly competitive 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:54.459 house, and he was raised by a single mother. 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:58.680 His father left in 1966. Right around the exact 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:01.519 time Keith was born, so his mother was the absolute 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:04.279 anchor of the family. When you are the youngest 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:06.500 of seven, you are constantly fighting for resources, 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:09.000 for attention, for physical space. You learn 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:10.860 to be quick or you get crushed by your older 00:05:10.860 --> 00:05:14.360 siblings. And that desire to carve out his own 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:18.379 path shows up really early. I found this part 00:05:18.379 --> 00:05:21.019 of his biography fascinating because it's essentially 00:05:21.019 --> 00:05:23.720 the first major fork in the road of his life. 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:26.819 Right, the high school decision. Exactly. He's 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:28.560 finishing junior high getting ready for high 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.220 school and he has a choice to make regarding 00:05:31.220 --> 00:05:34.220 where he plays. The choice between Omaha Benson 00:05:34.220 --> 00:05:37.120 and Omaha Central. Now looking at the logic of 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:40.379 a 14 or 15 year old kid Benson seems like the 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:43.279 painfully obvious choice. His older brother Lee 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:45.660 is already there. Right. Lee is a year older. 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:48.779 He's on the team and apparently the coaches at 00:05:48.779 --> 00:05:50.920 Benson were rolling out the red carpet for Keith. 00:05:51.319 --> 00:05:52.819 They were telling him, come here, you'll play 00:05:52.819 --> 00:05:54.980 immediately. Sophomore year, you are on the field. 00:05:55.100 --> 00:05:57.019 Which for a teenager is usually the ultimate 00:05:57.019 --> 00:06:00.240 selling point. Immediate gratification. Glory 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.660 right now. You get to wear the varsity jacket 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:05.319 two years early and be the big man on campus. 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:08.660 Exactly. But he doesn't go to Benson. He chooses 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:11.579 Omaha Central. Why? because Central offered the 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:15.120 exact opposite of immediate gratification. Their 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:17.620 program was known for being incredibly restrictive. 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:20.259 They basically told him, if you come here, you 00:06:20.259 --> 00:06:22.680 don't just play. You have to lift weights. You 00:06:22.680 --> 00:06:24.540 have to prove it. You have to earn it. You have 00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:27.060 to earn the right to even step on the practice 00:06:27.060 --> 00:06:30.439 field. They had a strict policy where sophomores 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:33.610 rarely, if ever, played varsity. That is such 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:36.389 a remarkably mature decision for a teenager to 00:06:36.389 --> 00:06:38.550 make, to look at the easy path playing with your 00:06:38.550 --> 00:06:40.370 brother starting day one and say, no, I'm going 00:06:40.370 --> 00:06:41.769 to go to the place that's going to make me work 00:06:41.769 --> 00:06:44.470 harder. Yeah. It suggests he wasn't just relying 00:06:44.470 --> 00:06:47.250 on his natural talent. He was actively looking 00:06:47.250 --> 00:06:50.009 for discipline. It shows an innate understanding 00:06:50.009 --> 00:06:53.730 of delayed gratification. He was willing to sacrifice 00:06:53.730 --> 00:06:55.949 the short -term spotlight for long -term athletic 00:06:55.949 --> 00:06:58.329 development. And ironically, that decision to 00:06:58.329 --> 00:07:00.850 go to the harder school is what eventually led 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:03.250 to the spotlight finding him anyway. Right. But 00:07:03.250 --> 00:07:05.250 it didn't happen overnight. No. And that's the 00:07:05.250 --> 00:07:07.290 funny thing about the Enzo nickname. It didn't 00:07:07.290 --> 00:07:09.810 start as a compliment for a star player. No. 00:07:10.129 --> 00:07:12.860 It started as teasing. Right. He didn't even 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:15.220 play much football until his junior year. But 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.339 by his senior year, he starts getting the ball 00:07:17.339 --> 00:07:19.620 and he starts scoring. The other kids were calling 00:07:19.620 --> 00:07:21.860 him end zone because that's the only place he 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:23.839 seemed to end up. But it was playful. It was 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.360 just banter among friends. Until the numbers 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.060 started to get silly. The senior year breakout 00:07:29.060 --> 00:07:33.019 is statistically absurd. We really need to dwell 00:07:33.019 --> 00:07:35.339 on these numbers for a second because they sound 00:07:35.339 --> 00:07:38.519 totally fake. They really do. In the Metro Conference, 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:43.420 his senior year, he rushed for 1710 yards. Which 00:07:43.420 --> 00:07:46.079 is a solid season for a college player playing 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:48.939 12 games. For a high school kid playing fewer 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:51.500 games, that is a massive load. But look at the 00:07:51.500 --> 00:07:53.779 average. He was averaging 190 yards per game. 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:56.980 190 yards a game that is an entire offense for 00:07:56.980 --> 00:07:58.899 most high school teams. And he was averaging 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:02.339 9 .1 yards per carry. So almost a first down 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:04.319 every single time he touched the ball. Basically, 00:08:04.500 --> 00:08:06.160 yes. Every time they handed him the ball, he 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:08.689 got a first down. He scored 18 touchdowns that 00:08:08.689 --> 00:08:12.189 season and 11 of them were plays of over 35 yards. 00:08:12.509 --> 00:08:14.550 That is the wow moment. That's where the speed 00:08:14.550 --> 00:08:16.910 we talked about earlier really shows up on paper. 00:08:17.110 --> 00:08:19.329 He's not just grinding out three yards in a cloud 00:08:19.329 --> 00:08:22.350 of dust. He's breaking away. If he gets into 00:08:22.350 --> 00:08:26.329 the open field, he is simply gone. And that is 00:08:26.329 --> 00:08:28.769 what triggered the Gale Sayers comparisons. Now 00:08:28.769 --> 00:08:30.290 for you listening, if you don't know the deep 00:08:30.290 --> 00:08:32.970 history of the gridiron, Gale Sayers is a pro 00:08:32.970 --> 00:08:35.500 football Hall of Famer. arguably one of the most 00:08:35.500 --> 00:08:37.620 graceful runners in the history of the sport. 00:08:37.720 --> 00:08:40.759 Kansas Comet. Exactly. And he was also an Omaha 00:08:40.759 --> 00:08:44.360 Central star. So to be a high school kid in Omaha 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:47.700 and be mentioned in the exact same breath as 00:08:47.700 --> 00:08:51.179 Sayers, that is a very heavy crown to wear. It 00:08:51.179 --> 00:08:53.200 really is. And looking at the notes, there's 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:54.820 a bit of a debate in the local records about 00:08:54.820 --> 00:08:57.440 whether he broke Sayers' specific record or Terry 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:00.059 Evans' record. But the point stands he was performing 00:09:00.059 --> 00:09:02.820 at a level that recalled the greatest player 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:05.179 to ever come out of that city. It firmly established 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:07.220 his elite status. He wasn't just a good local 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:09.240 player anymore. He was a genuine phenomenon. 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:11.799 And that brings us to the next big decision in 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:14.399 the timeline, which is college. Being an Omaha 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:17.580 kid, the end zone phenomenon, you have to assume 00:09:17.580 --> 00:09:20.059 Nebraska the Cornhuskers is the absolute goal. 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:22.759 It's practically a religion in that state. But 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:25.620 he actually heavily considered going to the University 00:09:25.620 --> 00:09:27.379 of Washington, right? He did. He was recruited 00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:30.090 by the Huskies. And he really liked Seattle. 00:09:30.549 --> 00:09:33.309 He liked the mountains, the water, the nature. 00:09:33.409 --> 00:09:35.990 It was a very different environment from the 00:09:35.990 --> 00:09:38.629 flat plains of Nebraska. So why stay? Why turn 00:09:38.629 --> 00:09:41.330 down the Pacific Northwest? Family. Again, we 00:09:41.330 --> 00:09:43.289 go right back to that family dynamic we discussed 00:09:43.289 --> 00:09:45.669 earlier. He wanted his mother and his siblings 00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:48.570 to be able to see him play. If he goes to Seattle, 00:09:49.370 --> 00:09:50.850 they can't make that trip every weekend. It's 00:09:50.850 --> 00:09:53.029 too expensive. Right. But if he goes to Lincoln, 00:09:53.110 --> 00:09:56.230 which is just down the road, they can be there 00:09:56.230 --> 00:09:58.659 every single Saturday. Plus, he rejoined his 00:09:58.659 --> 00:10:00.500 brother Lee, who was already playing defensive 00:10:00.500 --> 00:10:02.659 tackle for the Cornhuskers. So he arrives in 00:10:02.659 --> 00:10:06.080 Lincoln in 1984. He's the hometown hero. He probably 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.179 walks onto campus expecting to own the place 00:10:08.179 --> 00:10:10.899 right. Actually, the exact opposite. According 00:10:10.899 --> 00:10:13.240 to the archives, he was incredibly insecure when 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:16.440 he arrived. He showed up at 5 '9", 176 pounds. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.200 In the world of big eight college football, that 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.220 is tiny. Now you're playing against grown men. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:23.159 He looked around at the size of the linemen and 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:26.679 the linebackers guys who were 6 '4". 240, 250 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:29.659 pounds. And he felt completely physically unprepared. 00:10:29.820 --> 00:10:31.519 He fully expected to just play on the junior 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:33.740 varsity team. Which he did, but very briefly. 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:37.799 Very briefly. He played two JV games. And in 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:40.860 true Keith Jones fashion, he ran for 240 yards 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:43.240 and four touchdowns in those two games. It was 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:45.659 immediately clear he was way too good for JV. 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:47.899 And this sets up a pattern that we're going to 00:10:47.899 --> 00:10:50.620 see repeated throughout his entire career. The 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:54.740 idea of the opportunity arising from chaos. promoted 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:56.960 to varsity, but not just because he was playing 00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.519 well. Right. It was because of attrition. Paul 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:01.340 Miles, who was ahead of him on the duck chart, 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:04.120 separated his shoulder against Syracuse. Suddenly 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:06.960 there is a spot open. Jones gets the call. He 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.639 letters as a freshman rushing for 186 yards and 00:11:09.639 --> 00:11:12.200 two touchdowns. He proved he belonged despite 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:15.340 the lack of size. Then comes 1985, sophomore 00:11:15.340 --> 00:11:17.240 year. This is where things really start to heat 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:18.980 up. He has a choice again. He could red shirt, 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:20.860 sit out a year, get bigger in the weight room, 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:23.490 save a year of eligibility. But he elects to 00:11:23.490 --> 00:11:25.889 play. He backs himself. He starts as the number 00:11:25.889 --> 00:11:27.809 three I back then quickly moves to number two. 00:11:28.409 --> 00:11:31.289 But the moment that really etched him into Nebraska 00:11:31.289 --> 00:11:34.330 lore happened on November 16th against Kansas. 00:11:34.509 --> 00:11:36.710 The kickoff return. The kickoff return. Ninety 00:11:36.710 --> 00:11:39.350 eight yards touchdown. Now the context here is 00:11:39.350 --> 00:11:41.690 that Nebraska had gone four full years without 00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:44.230 a kickoff return for a touchdown. Not since Mike 00:11:44.230 --> 00:11:47.409 Rozier did it in 1981. Jones catches it hits 00:11:47.409 --> 00:11:49.750 the gas and four point three three seconds later 00:11:49.750 --> 00:11:51.809 he's in the end zone. But this brings up a map. 00:11:51.659 --> 00:11:54.200 paradox, doesn't it? And I think this is a key 00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:55.960 takeaway for you listening regarding athletic 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.720 development. You have a body built for linear 00:11:58.720 --> 00:12:01.820 speed, lean, efficient, fast twitch. But you're 00:12:01.820 --> 00:12:04.419 putting it into a sport big eight football that 00:12:04.419 --> 00:12:06.899 is entirely based on collision and attrition. 00:12:07.460 --> 00:12:09.159 Precisely. And that is the central tension of 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:11.399 Keith Jones' entire existence as an athlete. 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:13.500 To be the sprinter he was, he had to be light. 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:15.799 To survive the hits from Oklahoma and Colorado 00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:18.080 linebackers, he needed armor. He needed bulk. 00:12:18.179 --> 00:12:20.600 You can't have both. The human body struggles 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:23.440 to survive. of two masters. If you add 20 pounds 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:26.139 of muscle to protect your skeleton, you alter 00:12:26.139 --> 00:12:28.019 the torque on your joints and you potentially 00:12:28.019 --> 00:12:31.659 lose that 4 .33 burst. So when coach Tom Osborne 00:12:31.659 --> 00:12:33.539 eventually tells him to quit the track team by 00:12:33.539 --> 00:12:36.399 his senior year, it wasn't just about time management. 00:12:36.779 --> 00:12:39.539 It was a physiological ultimatum. It was a directed 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:41.779 mission from the coaching staff that you cannot 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:45.480 be elite at both without breaking. And as we'll 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:47.559 see later in the medical reports, breaking became 00:12:47.559 --> 00:12:49.940 the recurring theme of his life. Which makes 00:12:49.940 --> 00:12:51.740 sense, especially as his role in the football. 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:56.340 grew. Yeah. Junior year, 1986. This is the year 00:12:56.340 --> 00:12:58.960 he becomes the guy. But again, it starts with 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.580 someone else's misfortune. Doug Tubose. He was 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:03.360 the established star. Coming off back to back 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.779 a thousand yard seasons, he tears his knee up 00:13:05.779 --> 00:13:08.240 in the very first scrimmage of the season. Just 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.220 like the Keith Jones is the starter. And he didn't 00:13:10.220 --> 00:13:12.929 just fill in. He dominated the conference. He 00:13:12.929 --> 00:13:15.230 led the entire Big Eight conference in rushing 00:13:15.230 --> 00:13:17.769 yards per game with 83 .0. He finished the season 00:13:17.769 --> 00:13:21.409 with 830 yards and 14 touchdowns. But, and this 00:13:21.409 --> 00:13:23.509 is the heavy foreshadowing we alluded to earlier, 00:13:23.629 --> 00:13:26.070 he was playing through significant pain the entire 00:13:26.070 --> 00:13:28.330 time. Yeah, reading the medical report for that 00:13:28.330 --> 00:13:31.690 junior season is painful just to look at. Ligament 00:13:31.690 --> 00:13:34.710 damage in his thumb that required actual surgery 00:13:34.710 --> 00:13:37.029 midseason. He missed a game for that. And then 00:13:37.029 --> 00:13:39.669 he played the final regular season games with 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:42.639 a special cast on his hand. How do you hold onto 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:45.139 a football with a cast? It's incredibly difficult. 00:13:45.179 --> 00:13:47.940 You lose all tactile sensation. And then a deep 00:13:47.940 --> 00:13:50.039 thigh bruise before the sugar bowl. That thigh 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:52.340 bruise severely limited him in the bowl game. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:55.559 So even as he is ascending to national stardom, 00:13:55.740 --> 00:13:58.779 his body is taking an absolute beating. He is 00:13:58.779 --> 00:14:01.080 durable enough to play, but he is constantly 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:04.320 managing something broken or bruised. This is 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:06.740 the reality of being a sub 200 pound running 00:14:06.740 --> 00:14:09.980 back. You are a sports car being used as a battering 00:14:09.980 --> 00:14:14.200 ram. Which brings us to 1987. Senior year. The 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:16.360 absolute peak of his amateur career. This is 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:18.480 the masterpiece season. He rushes for a tall 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:21.259 132 yards and 13 touchdowns. He's ranked eighth 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:23.940 in the entire nation in rushing. But if you ask 00:14:23.940 --> 00:14:26.440 any Nebraska fan from that era about Keith Jones, 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:28.720 they aren't going to quote the season stats. 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:30.799 They are going to tell you about one specific 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.419 game. Colorado game. The Colorado game. Regular 00:14:34.419 --> 00:14:39.129 season finale. A massive rivalry with huge stakes, 00:14:39.730 --> 00:14:42.370 and Keith Jones just explodes on the field. Career 00:14:42.370 --> 00:14:46.200 highs across the board, right? 26 carries. 248 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:49.519 yards, two massive touchdowns, one from 50 yards 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.580 out, one from 44 yards out. He was completely 00:14:52.580 --> 00:14:54.879 unstoppable. It was the perfect synthesis of 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:57.759 that decision to go to Central. The track speed 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:00.220 and the sheer toughness he built playing through 00:15:00.220 --> 00:15:01.840 all those injuries. And when he graduated, he 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:03.720 was third all time in school history for rushing 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:06.580 yards. He passed Roger Craig. He was behind only 00:15:06.580 --> 00:15:09.460 Mike Rozier and I am hip. That is elite company 00:15:09.460 --> 00:15:12.299 to keep. It really is. He left college as a verifiable 00:15:12.299 --> 00:15:14.340 star. He had the stats, he had the tape, and 00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:16.059 he had the measurables with that 40 -yard dash 00:15:16.059 --> 00:15:17.600 time. You would think the NFL would be rolling 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:19.700 out the red carpet for a guy like that. But the 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:21.940 NFL draft is a humbling experience. That's the 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:24.080 ultimate reality check for these guys. It is. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:26.220 And this is where the story firmly shifts from 00:15:26.220 --> 00:15:29.200 a sports glory narrative to a dark business survival 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:32.200 story. So the 1988 draft, where does Keith Jones 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:35.500 go? He waits. And he waits. And finally, in the 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:38.059 sixth round, 147th overall, he gets picked by 00:15:38.059 --> 00:15:41.830 the Los Angeles Rams. Sixth round. For a guy 00:15:41.830 --> 00:15:45.250 who ran a 4 .33 and dominated the big eight, 00:15:46.070 --> 00:15:48.730 was it just the size issue? It was likely the 00:15:48.730 --> 00:15:50.970 size combined with the well -documented injury 00:15:50.970 --> 00:15:52.929 history we just mentioned. Yeah. But also look 00:15:52.929 --> 00:15:55.730 at the situation he was drafted into. The Rams 00:15:55.730 --> 00:15:58.210 had what you'd call a crowded room. Crowded is 00:15:58.210 --> 00:16:00.330 an understatement. They already had Charles White 00:16:00.330 --> 00:16:03.210 and Greg Bell both proven 5s and yard rushers. 00:16:03.590 --> 00:16:06.950 And in the exact same draft, they had taken Gaston 00:16:06.950 --> 00:16:09.019 Green in the first round. So Jones is coming 00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:11.860 into camp as the fourth option at best. At best. 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:14.279 And then the injury loop begins. This was the 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:16.039 most frustrating part of the research for me. 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:19.220 You see a guy with so much raw talent just getting 00:16:19.220 --> 00:16:21.740 chewed up and stuck in the gears of the NFL roster 00:16:21.740 --> 00:16:23.659 management machine. The rookie sees and he hurts 00:16:23.659 --> 00:16:25.659 his ankle, goes straight to injured reserve. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:28.379 The Rams release him. He clears waivers. They 00:16:28.379 --> 00:16:30.620 re -sign him. He gets hurt again. Placed right 00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:32.899 back on IR. It sounds emotionally exhausting. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:35.980 It is the precarious life of a late round pick. 00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:39.139 If you are a first round pick, The team has a 00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:41.720 massive financial investment in you. They will 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:44.000 wait for you to heal. They will rehab you. If 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:46.759 you are a six round tick, you're entirely disposable. 00:16:47.340 --> 00:16:49.879 One bad ankle sprain can end your career before 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:54.659 it even starts. But he doesn't quit. 1989 rolls 00:16:54.659 --> 00:16:57.000 around and he moves to the Cleveland Browns. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:00.360 And here is where we see that term Plan B come 00:17:00.360 --> 00:17:03.830 up in the transaction reports. Really want to 00:17:03.830 --> 00:17:05.650 dive into that term because unless you were a 00:17:05.650 --> 00:17:08.470 labor lawyer following sports in 1989 that phrase 00:17:08.470 --> 00:17:10.549 might not land for you This wasn't free agency 00:17:10.549 --> 00:17:12.869 as we know it today was it not at all and to 00:17:12.869 --> 00:17:15.410 understand why Jones's professional career unfolded 00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:17.589 the way it did You really have to understand 00:17:17.589 --> 00:17:20.490 the Plan B system. It was a stopgap measure instituted 00:17:20.490 --> 00:17:23.490 by the NFL owners. In the late 80s, the courts 00:17:23.490 --> 00:17:25.650 had struck down the Rizel rule, which basically 00:17:25.650 --> 00:17:27.609 made it impossible for players to switch teams 00:17:27.609 --> 00:17:29.869 without the new team giving up massive compensation. 00:17:30.450 --> 00:17:32.329 The owners needed a new system that looked like 00:17:32.329 --> 00:17:34.049 freedom to the courts, but maintained their control 00:17:34.049 --> 00:17:36.549 over the labor force. So how did Plan B actually 00:17:36.549 --> 00:17:38.809 work in practice? Each team was allowed to protect 00:17:38.809 --> 00:17:42.230 37 players on their active roster. If you were 00:17:42.230 --> 00:17:45.000 in that top 37, You couldn't go anywhere. You 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:47.480 were the exclusive property of the team. But 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:51.380 if you were player 38, 39, or 40, you were designated 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:54.140 Plan B. You were unprotected. You could go market 00:17:54.140 --> 00:17:56.059 yourself to other teams. That sounds like a harsh 00:17:56.059 --> 00:17:58.779 designation. It's basically the team publicly 00:17:58.779 --> 00:18:01.700 saying, we value you, but not enough to actually 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:04.079 lock you down. It was a scarlet letter, professionally 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:05.920 speaking. It signaled to the rest of the league 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:08.200 that you were expendable. But for a guy like 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:10.740 Keith Jones, who had the talent but was buried 00:18:10.740 --> 00:18:13.599 behind massive depth charts, it was a lifeline. 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:16.029 It allowed him to leverage the open market. He 00:18:16.029 --> 00:18:19.650 signed with Cleveland for $155 ,000 plus a $15 00:18:19.650 --> 00:18:21.789 ,000 signing bonus. Which isn't bad money at 00:18:21.789 --> 00:18:24.150 all for 1989, but he walks right into another 00:18:24.150 --> 00:18:27.269 fierce competition. The Browns trade up in the 00:18:27.269 --> 00:18:29.849 draft to get Eric Metcalf, who is a first -rounder. 00:18:30.049 --> 00:18:32.230 So once again, Jones is the underdog. Metcalf 00:18:32.230 --> 00:18:34.289 is the shiny new toy that the front office is 00:18:34.289 --> 00:18:36.509 invested in. But Metcalf holds out for more money. 00:18:36.970 --> 00:18:39.450 And Kevin Mack, the veteran fullback, gets suspended 00:18:39.450 --> 00:18:42.109 for legal issues. And suddenly the door cracks 00:18:42.109 --> 00:18:46.039 open just a bit. Jones runs for 133 yards in 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:49.339 a preseason game. He proves to the coaching staff, 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:52.480 hey, I am still that exact same guy from the 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:54.700 Colorado game. I love how he adapted in Cleveland, 00:18:54.900 --> 00:18:56.799 though. He didn't become the superstar starter, 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:59.240 but he found a way to stay on the field and make 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:01.619 himself useful. He became a special teams ace. 00:19:02.089 --> 00:19:04.269 Think about the ego check here. This is a guy 00:19:04.269 --> 00:19:07.529 who rushed for 1700 yards in high school and 00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:10.369 1200 in college. And now he's doing the grueling 00:19:10.369 --> 00:19:13.029 dirty work of running down punts. Right. He was 00:19:13.029 --> 00:19:14.869 second on the team in special teams tackles with 00:19:14.869 --> 00:19:17.569 21. He blocked a punt against Indianapolis that 00:19:17.569 --> 00:19:19.529 was recovered for a touchdown. That shows a complete 00:19:19.529 --> 00:19:22.230 lack of ego. It shows he just want to be a football 00:19:22.230 --> 00:19:24.700 player regardless of the role. It shows incredible 00:19:24.700 --> 00:19:28.279 resilience. He pivoted from star runner to utility 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:30.880 weapon. And that specific versatility is what 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.519 finally caught the eye of the Dallas Cowboys. 00:19:32.619 --> 00:19:36.160 OK, here we go. 1990. The Dallas Cowboys. When 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:38.119 you read the notes, this really feels like the 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:40.220 major turning point. It was absolutely supposed 00:19:40.220 --> 00:19:42.460 to be the big break. He signs as a Plan B free 00:19:42.460 --> 00:19:44.680 agent yet again. But look at the contract this 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:49.740 time. Two years, $800 ,000. plus an $80 ,000 00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:52.200 signing bonus. That is a staggering jump from 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:54.539 the Cleveland salary. That is starter money for 00:19:54.539 --> 00:19:57.480 that era of the NFL. It reflects his market value. 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:00.400 He used the Plan B stigma to find a bidder who 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.420 heavily valued his specific skill set, which 00:20:03.420 --> 00:20:06.460 was raw speed. Jimmy Johnson, the Cowboys' head 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:08.720 coach, tagged him as a, quote, probable starter, 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:11.589 unquote. Think about the gravity of that. He 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:13.549 is slated to be the starting running back for 00:20:13.549 --> 00:20:16.150 America's team. But then the draft happens. The 00:20:16.150 --> 00:20:18.910 Cowboys maneuver and select Emmett Smith. Talk 00:20:18.910 --> 00:20:21.349 about a plot twist. But even then, Emmett Smith 00:20:21.349 --> 00:20:23.450 was just a wookie who also held out for a while. 00:20:23.750 --> 00:20:25.549 Jones was the veteran with the proven speed. 00:20:25.589 --> 00:20:28.049 The competition was genuinely open. And then 00:20:28.049 --> 00:20:29.809 tragedy strikes. First week of training camp. 00:20:29.950 --> 00:20:32.289 He tears his ACL on his right knee. Just devastating. 00:20:32.650 --> 00:20:34.849 Absolutely devastating. He misses the entire 00:20:34.849 --> 00:20:38.009 1990 season. And while he's going through the 00:20:38.009 --> 00:20:40.210 grueling rehab process, Emmett Smith goes on 00:20:40.210 --> 00:20:43.279 to become Well, Emmett's me. It's a massive what 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:45.599 -if moment in sports history. If Keith Jones 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:48.660 doesn't tear his ACL in that camp, maybe he starts 00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:51.160 the season. Maybe Emmett sits for a bit to learn 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:53.460 the ropes. Maybe history looks entirely different. 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:56.480 We will never know. But the injury problems didn't 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.160 stop with the knee. He rehabs the ACL, which 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:03.200 is a horrific process in 1990. Then in May 1991, 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:05.859 he ruptures a disc in his back. So now he has 00:21:05.859 --> 00:21:08.119 a surgically repaired knee and a ruptured spine. 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:11.440 He undergoes back surgery, specifically a disectomy, 00:21:11.539 --> 00:21:14.319 to remove the ruptured portion of the disc. He 00:21:14.319 --> 00:21:16.880 starts the 1991 season on the physically unable 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:19.700 to perform list. He finally manages to pass his 00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:22.019 physical in September. And what do the Cowboys 00:21:22.019 --> 00:21:23.940 do? They cut him. They release him immediately. 00:21:24.220 --> 00:21:26.339 And this leads us to the final, and I think most 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:29.059 intellectual part of this deep dive, the arbitration 00:21:29.059 --> 00:21:31.900 case. Because Jones didn't just quietly walk 00:21:31.900 --> 00:21:34.339 away. He fought back. We really need to dissect 00:21:34.339 --> 00:21:36.599 this arbitration case, specifically Jones v. 00:21:36.660 --> 00:21:38.900 the Dallas Cowboys. Because on the surface, it 00:21:38.900 --> 00:21:40.980 looks like a standard dispute. Player gets hurt, 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.609 player gets cut. But the timeline you highlighted 00:21:43.609 --> 00:21:45.990 in the source notes suggests something much darker 00:21:45.990 --> 00:21:48.549 regarding medical ethics in the early 90s. It 00:21:48.549 --> 00:21:51.190 frankly borders on medical malpractice by modern 00:21:51.190 --> 00:21:54.410 standards. Let's look closely at the dates. Jones 00:21:54.410 --> 00:21:57.410 undergoes that back surgery in May 1991. The 00:21:57.410 --> 00:21:59.369 medical standard of care at the time required 00:21:59.369 --> 00:22:02.190 an eight -month recovery window before absorbing 00:22:02.190 --> 00:22:04.789 the kind of impact inherent to professional football. 00:22:05.029 --> 00:22:06.970 Okay, so eight months puts his safe return date 00:22:06.970 --> 00:22:10.690 around January 1992. Correct. But, Jimmy Johnson, 00:22:10.750 --> 00:22:12.650 who is in the middle of trying to build a dynasty 00:22:12.650 --> 00:22:14.849 and has zero patience for unavailable assets, 00:22:15.150 --> 00:22:18.190 approaches Jones in August. Three months post 00:22:18.190 --> 00:22:20.789 -up. Wow. He effectively issues an ultimatum 00:22:20.789 --> 00:22:23.750 past the physical and play or re -release you. 00:22:24.190 --> 00:22:26.109 Put yourself in the player's mindset here if 00:22:26.109 --> 00:22:28.210 you're listening to this. You have a spine that 00:22:28.210 --> 00:22:31.009 is literally still fusing or healing. You have 00:22:31.009 --> 00:22:33.589 a legendary coach threatening your entire livelihood, 00:22:33.829 --> 00:22:36.130 and you have the inherent volatility of the Plan 00:22:36.130 --> 00:22:38.829 B system we just discussed. Jones tries to comply. 00:22:39.410 --> 00:22:42.170 He pushes the rehab to the absolute limit. He 00:22:42.170 --> 00:22:44.089 manages to pass a physical in September, which 00:22:44.089 --> 00:22:46.670 many experts later argued was a complete formality. 00:22:47.309 --> 00:22:49.170 But as soon as he is cleared as fit to play, 00:22:49.490 --> 00:22:51.650 the Cowboys cut him. Wait, break down the logic 00:22:51.650 --> 00:22:54.990 there for me. If he is declared fit to play, 00:22:55.369 --> 00:22:57.660 why cut him then? And if you wanted to cut him 00:22:57.660 --> 00:23:00.660 anyway, why force him to get fit first? This 00:23:00.660 --> 00:23:03.700 is the exact legal loophole the Cowboys tried 00:23:03.700 --> 00:23:06.380 to exploit. Under the collective bargaining agreement, 00:23:06.619 --> 00:23:08.839 if a player is legally classified as injured, 00:23:09.339 --> 00:23:11.619 you cannot cut him without providing an injury 00:23:11.619 --> 00:23:14.500 settlement, which usually equals his full salary 00:23:14.500 --> 00:23:17.119 for the year. But if a player is classified as 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:19.750 healthy, You can cut him for a lack of skill 00:23:19.750 --> 00:23:22.329 and owe him absolutely nothing. I see. So Johnson 00:23:22.329 --> 00:23:24.730 needed Jones to be declared healthy on paper 00:23:24.730 --> 00:23:27.509 solely so he could fire him without paying out 00:23:27.509 --> 00:23:29.829 the guaranteed money on that $800 ,000 contract. 00:23:30.049 --> 00:23:33.339 That was the core allegation. Yes. It was a deeply 00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:35.519 cynical maneuver to clear the financial books. 00:23:36.140 --> 00:23:38.380 Jones filed a formal grievance, arguing that 00:23:38.380 --> 00:23:40.579 while he might have passed a rudimentary physical 00:23:40.579 --> 00:23:43.099 lace, he was not functionally recovered from 00:23:43.099 --> 00:23:44.900 the severe injuries sustained while employed 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:47.480 by the Cowboys. He argued the healthy designation 00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:49.579 was a total sham. And the arbitrator actually 00:23:49.579 --> 00:23:52.599 agreed with him. They did. In 1993, he won an 00:23:52.599 --> 00:23:55.740 arbitration settlement of $200 ,000. That was 00:23:55.740 --> 00:23:58.539 exactly one year's pay from the contract. The 00:23:58.539 --> 00:24:00.460 arbitrator essentially ruled that you cannot 00:24:00.460 --> 00:24:02.700 artificially accelerate a biological medical 00:24:02.700 --> 00:24:05.640 timeline just to save the franchise money. The 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:08.539 $200 ,000 reward wasn't just back pay. It was 00:24:08.539 --> 00:24:11.319 a validation that the Plan B era couldn't completely 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:13.880 bypass basic human labor protections. It's a 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:17.670 fascinating, if brutal, case study. It really 00:24:17.670 --> 00:24:19.630 shows that Jones's greatest victory in the NFL 00:24:19.630 --> 00:24:21.650 wasn't scoring in the end zone. It was sitting 00:24:21.650 --> 00:24:23.609 in a conference room reading the fine print of 00:24:23.609 --> 00:24:26.450 the CBA and demanding his rights. That is the 00:24:26.450 --> 00:24:28.250 ultimate tragedy of his professional career. 00:24:28.390 --> 00:24:30.430 He won the legal argument, but he lost the game. 00:24:30.609 --> 00:24:32.509 The human body just couldn't hold up to the violence 00:24:32.509 --> 00:24:34.410 of the sport, regardless of how fast he was. 00:24:34.650 --> 00:24:36.430 So when we look back at this entire journey, 00:24:36.750 --> 00:24:38.589 how do we summarize it? We have the end zone 00:24:38.589 --> 00:24:41.819 phenomenon in Omaha. the blinding 4 .33 speed, 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:44.599 the dominance at Nebraska against teams like 00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:48.140 Colorado, and then this jagged, incredibly painful 00:24:48.140 --> 00:24:52.019 NFL experience. It is a story of incredible peaks 00:24:52.019 --> 00:24:54.819 interrupted by the cold, hard limitations of 00:24:54.819 --> 00:24:57.380 biology. He had the pure talent of a Hall of 00:24:57.380 --> 00:24:59.799 Famer. I really truly believe that looking at 00:24:59.799 --> 00:25:02.220 the film. When he was healthy and on the field, 00:25:02.220 --> 00:25:05.920 he was electric. But durability is a skill or 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:08.660 perhaps just a stroke of genetic luck. that he 00:25:08.660 --> 00:25:11.140 simply didn't have in the pros. He is still ranked 00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:13.799 very high on the Nebraska all -time list, sitting 00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:16.460 at number 17 as of a few years ago. So the legacy 00:25:16.460 --> 00:25:18.920 in Lincoln is incredibly secure. It is. He is 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:20.960 forever a Cornhusker legend. But it leaves you 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:23.500 thinking. We spend so much time in sports media 00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:25.740 celebrating the guys who make it to Canton, the 00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:28.059 guys who managed to play 15 seasons without a 00:25:28.059 --> 00:25:31.000 major surgery. But for every one of them, there 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.900 are countless players like Keith Jones. And that 00:25:33.900 --> 00:25:35.740 is exactly the question I would leave the listener 00:25:35.740 --> 00:25:37.769 with today. When we look at sports history, we 00:25:37.769 --> 00:25:40.809 focus almost entirely on the survivors. But how 00:25:40.809 --> 00:25:43.269 many Keith Joneses have there been? Players with 00:25:43.269 --> 00:25:45.250 Hall of Fame, Callum, world -class speed and 00:25:45.250 --> 00:25:47.490 incredible drive, whose careers were defined 00:25:47.490 --> 00:25:50.130 not by their actual ability, but by the unfortunate 00:25:50.130 --> 00:25:52.910 timing of a single ligament tear or a ruthless 00:25:52.910 --> 00:25:55.250 contract dispute. It really makes you look at 00:25:55.250 --> 00:25:57.869 the game a little differently on Sundays. It's 00:25:57.869 --> 00:26:00.349 not just about who is the best athlete. It's 00:26:00.349 --> 00:26:02.490 about who survives the meat grinder. Exactly. 00:26:02.630 --> 00:26:05.029 It's a game of attrition. That is all for this 00:26:05.029 --> 00:26:08.069 deep dive into the complex life of Keith and 00:26:08.069 --> 00:26:10.849 Zone Jones. Thanks for listening and we'll see 00:26:10.849 --> 00:26:11.309 you next time.