The Patriots' playoff opener against the Chiefs is a day away, but the story of Chandler Jones' stop at the Foxborough police station continues to hog the headlines.
The latest reason? ESPN's Cris Carter, appearing on "Mike and Mike" on Friday, speculated that Jones arrived seeking assistance not because of a reported bad reaction to synthetic marijuana, but smoking marijuana laced with PCP. Oh, and there's a bit about Aaron Hernandez involved, too.
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Carter was asked a pretty open-ended question by host Mike Greenberg: "What is your thought on the Chandler Jones situation?" Carter described it as a "scary situation" and then got into his own specific theory on what happened.
"I don't know this," Carter said, before launching into a very detailed account. "I think that the synthetic marijuana story might be just a story. Just for me, it don't pass the smell test for me. To me, I think he was smoking marijuana, and I think he was smoking some marijuana laced with PCP or angel dust, and I think that's what made him trip out.
"Now he could've been smoking synthetic," Carter said, and the hosts interjected, adding that this has happened before, "but it's a better story to tell. That's the reason why I'm here. So when he got to the police station, why was he smelling like marijuana? Because synthetic doesn't smell like marijuana. So for me, I don't know all the details of the case, but I'm just a little … um, the synthetic, that's a better way to put it.
"But if you look at some of the information — and this is not the same thing, so don't freak out on me people — but Aaron Hernandez, if you look at what was some of the things they started looking at at him? At the end, he was smoking marijuana laced with PCP and that's when the people around him started saying you could start to see it started making a difference in his decision making. Did he have that? No, I'm just trying to tell you what I believe could be the end result because that's what happens. You know? And based on the police report, so I'm going to wait to see as far as if he plays and everything, I'm not going to get into that. That, to me, is someone else's decision. But when you look at the case, those would be the things I would be looking for guys."
It's big of Carter to draw the line at not discussing whether he should play or not. But linking Jones to Hernandez and speculating on his drug of choice? That's totally in play.
The Patriots host the Chiefs at 4:35 p.m. ET on Saturday.