Miles
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- Mar 18, 2019
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Two-time Super Bowl champion Tony Jones has passed away,
He was 54 years old.
Jones, a 13-year NFL veteran, played four seasons for the Broncos at tackle from 1997-2000. He served as the team's right tackle during their first world championship season in 1997 and held future Hall of Famer Reggie White without a sack in Super Bowl XXXII. Jones then manned the left tackle position in 1998 as Denver earned another title. Jones earned Pro Bowl honors that season as he protected John Elway's blind side.
The 6-foot-5, 290-pound player started all 60 games in which he appeared over his four seasons in Denver. Jones joined the Browns as an undrafted player in 1988 and spent eight seasons in Cleveland. Jones was a second-team All-Pro in 1994.
Jones then spent the 1996 season with the Ravens before the Broncos traded a second-round pick to acquire him in February of 1997.
A Royston, Georgia native, Jones was named a member of the Broncos Top 100 Team in 2019. The list of players celebrated the franchise's all-time greats and was voted on by fans.
DenverBroncos.com also ranked Jones as the fourth-best tackle in team history in 2016.
"We lost a great man," Ring of Fame wide receiver Rod Smith posted on Instagram on Friday. "Just happened to be a hell of a ball playa. We love you and miss you Bone. One of the Broncos all time best tackles. greatest dresser of ALL-TIME!"
Three-time All-Pro tackle Willie Anderson also remembered Jones, calling him on Twitter a "great dad, friend, offensive tackle, trainer and coach."
Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Atwater was also close with Jones, as the two lived near each other after their NFL careers.
"He was an amazing guy, a heck of a nice guy," Atwater said. "Great football player — mean, nasty. That's the kind of guy that you want to go to war with if you're going to war. And we were really good friends. We lived in the same neighborhood when we lived in Georgia — lived down in Sugarloaf down there. We had a pretty good friendship. ... He and one other friend of mine, we got lunch a little bit before I moved from Atlanta, took me out to lunch. I always remember how nice of a guy he was, how great he was with his kids. A good guy, man."