Troubled NFL free agent Chandler Jones claims CTE is 'fake' after a series of bizarre off-the-field incidents left experts worrying about his mental health: 'Misunderstanding of the disease is common among athletes'

Jones' mental troubles ensued after his arrest by Las Vegas police in SeptemberThe 33-year-old violated a temporary domestic violence protection order  DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news

Chandler Jones has claimed that CTE – a brain disorder likely to cause repeated head injuries – doesn’t exit after a series of outbursts this season, but was later refuted on social media by former WWE wrestler turned neuroscientist, Dr. Chris Nowinski.

The 33-year-old defensive end opened up on why he thinks the neurodegenerative disease is ‘fake,’ four months after being cut by the Las Vegas Raiders following a violation of a domestic violence temporary protection order.

‘Going into the conversation of the CTE thing, I think it’s funny and me and Antonio Brown are actually going to run a podcast called ”CTE podcast” ’cause they’re saying we both have CTE,’ Jones revealed at first.

‘So, uh, I don’t know the other two words in that acronym – CTE. But, I know the ”T’ stands for ”trauma” and I know it’s not blunt-forced trauma. I know it also doesn’t mean that you got hit in the head too many times. That doesn’t mean that… CTE is not real. I don’t believe it’s real. […] It’s not real, CTE is not real.

‘The ”T” in trauma could be from being molested as a kid, from things that you went through in high school and that could be mental trauma. Emotional trauma. But not blunt-forced, got-punched-in-the-head trauma.’

Former Raiders star Chris Jones revealed that he thinks CTE can stem from any type of trauma

Dr. Chris Nowinski is a ex-WWE fighter turned neuroscientist with a doctorate from Harvard

Since his release from the Raiders in September, Jones has had ‘Messiah’ tattooed on his head and alleged that Aaron Hernandez’s death by suicide in prison in 2017 was staged by the Raiders and one of its former head coaches – Josh McDaniels, sparking concerns for his mental health.

He had been on Las Vegas’ non-football illness list before his release.

‘I have great sympathy for what Chandler is going through,’ tweeted Dr. Nowinski in response to footage of Jones’ claims on X. ‘Having some misunderstanding of #CTE – in this case believing emotional trauma can cause it – is common among pro athletes.

‘It’s a legacy of the successful #CTE misinformation campaigns of the sports industry.’

Jones’ latest claim comes after a series of outburst and after he was cut by the Raiders in Sept.

Jones’ issues with the team first surfaced before the Raiders’ season opener on September 10 at Denver when he accused the team of locking him out of the facility. He was especially critically of McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.

Once a free gent, Jones was highly active on X, formerly Twitter, making unusual allegations regarding Hernandez’s death among other bizarre posts, like blaming Tom Brady for the New England Patriots’ 2015 ‘Deflagate’ scandal.

He also made a song for former head coach Bill Belichick after his 24-year coaching reign with the club came to an end, earlier this month.

The Raiders signed Jones in March 2022 hoping that he would bolster their pass rush, but he had just four-and-a-half sacks last season. Jones has 112 career sacks.

The Raiders confirmed the hiring of Antonio Pierce as their new head coach last week.