ENGLEWOOD, Colo. Tony Jones, a starter for two of the Denver Broncos championship teams, is dead, the team announced Friday. He was 54.
Jones, who started with the right tackle in the Broncos victory in Super Bowl XXXII and started on the left offense when the team won Super Bowl XXXIII the following year, played 13 seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and Broncos after signing up. the league in 1988 as an unknown newcomer.
Known as the ‘T-Bone’ for his Broncos teammates, he spent the last four years of his career with the Broncos and retired after starting 16 games at the age of 34 in the 2000 season.
“We lost a great man,” former teammate Rod Smith posted on Twitter. “Coincidentally was a hell of a ball playa. We love you and miss you. Beans. One of the best tackles of the Broncos. Greatest dresser of all time!”
Ed McCaffrey, another former Broncos teammate, called Jones “a great teammate and a great man,” and Hall of Famer Steve Atwater, who also played in the two Super Bowl teams, said that Jones was “a good teammate” with “only” the most beautiful children. ‘
Atwater also said Friday night that many of the players on the Broncos teams are still in touch with each other and that “everyone is hurt by this.”
The Broncos, believing they were planning to bounce back from a playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars to end the 1996 season, traded a second round to the Ravens in 1997 to win Jones.
In Super Bowl XXXII, on the right, he held Hall of Famer Reggie White without a bag and against an overall tackle when the Broncos rushed 179 yards and Hall of Famer Terrell Davis was named the MVP of the match .
After Gary Zimmerman, also a Hall of Famer, retired before the 1998 season, Jones shifted to left tackle and started every game on his way to a Pro Bowl pick when the Broncos won a second consecutive title.
Jones was named the Broncos’ Top 100 team in 2019.
In a social media post, Willie Anderson, former Bengal, calls Jones “a great father, friend, offensive coach, coach and coach.”