What Is Adam "Pacman" Jones' Net Worth and Career Earnings?
Adam "Pacman" Jones is a retired American professional football cornerback who has a net worth of $2 million. Adam "Pacman" Jones had a turbulent but talented NFL career spanning from 2005 to 2018. Selected sixth overall in the 2005 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans out of West Virginia University, Jones showed early promise as both a cornerback and electrifying return specialist.
However, his early career was marked by significant off-field troubles that threatened to derail his professional trajectory. After two seasons with the Titans, Jones was suspended for the entire 2007 season by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell due to multiple legal incidents and violations of the league's personal conduct policy. He then played briefly for the Dallas Cowboys in 2008 before finding a more stable home with the Cincinnati Bengals (2010-2017). In Cincinnati, Jones experienced a career renaissance, becoming a key defensive player and earning his only Pro Bowl selection in 2015. He also made the First-team All-Pro as a return specialist in 2014. During his time with the Bengals, he showed improved maturity and became a reliable defensive back, though occasional off-field incidents still occurred.
Jones finished his career with a brief stint with the Denver Broncos in 2018. Throughout his 12 NFL seasons, he recorded 17 interceptions, scored multiple special teams touchdowns, and established himself as one of the league's most dangerous return men. After retirement, Jones has worked as a football analyst and has been open about his past struggles, often speaking to younger players about learning from mistakes. Despite the controversies that marked his career, Jones's athletic talent and eventual professional growth made him a memorable figure in NFL history.
Career Earnings
During his NFL career, Adam Pacman Jones earned a little over $36 million in NFL salary. His highest-paid season was 2017 when he earned a bit more than $6 million from the Bengals.
Early Life
Adam "Pacman" Jones was born Adam Bernard Jones on September 30, 1983, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was raised by his mother, Deborah, and grandmother, Christine, and in 1991, his father was killed during a robbery. Deborah gave Adam the nickname "Pacman" as a child because he would change direction as quickly as the popular video game protagonist Pac-Man. Jones grew up in Atlanta's Sandtown neighborhood, and he attended Westlake High School, where he played football and earned All-American honors in both track and basketball. As a high school football player, Adam played in the all-star game between Georgia and Florida. After his senior year, he was named the conference "Player of the Year" due to his completion of 1,850 rushing yards, six interceptions, and 120 tackles.
College Career
After graduating from high school, Jones enrolled at West Virginia University (WVU), where he majored in Athletic Coaching Education and made the Athletic Director's Academic Honor Roll. He began playing for the Mountaineers football team as a freshman in the positions of safety and reserve cornerback. During his sophomore year, Adam was a second-team All-Big East Conference selection, and he was the team's secondary captain as a junior. That year, he was named first-team all-Big East, and several sources named him an honorable mention All-American. Jones was named Big East Special Teams Player of the Year as well, and his final college game took place at the 2005 Gator Bowl. He is ranked #2 on WVU's career kickoff return yardage list (1,475 yards), #6 on its yards per punt return list (10.92), and #11 on its career punt return yardage list (404 yards).
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Professional Career
Adam decided to declare for the NFL Draft instead of attending his senior year at WVU. He was the sixth overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, and he sat out most of training camp due to a contract dispute with the Tennessee Titans stemming from an arrest during college. Jones initially didn't want to agree to the contract's safeguards. Still, he eventually agreed that he would forego bonuses or any guaranteed money if he were convicted of a crime during his time on the Titans. He had 44 tackles as a rookie, followed by 62 tackles during his second season. Adam also completed three punt return touchdowns that season, which was tied for an NFL high.
In April 2007, Jones received a one-year suspension for violating NFL player conduct policy, and he took out an ad in "The Tennessean" in which he wrote:
"To my family, teammates, coaches, and fans, I recognize that I have lost the right to ask for your patience and understanding. However, I will do everything in my power to regain your trust and respect."
Adam was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in April 2008 and signed a four-year contract with the team. He was fully reinstated to play in August 2008, and two months later, he was suspended for several games due to an altercation with his bodyguard. In early December 2008, Jones injured his neck during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and decided to keep playing. It was later reported that the injury could be season-ending or even career-ending, but he played in the last game of the season.
Pacman Jones / Jamie Sabau/Getty Images
Strip Club Shooting
In February 2007, Pacman was involved in a shooting at the Minxx Gentlemen's Club in Las Vegas during NBA All-Star Weekend. Jones was involved in a dispute inside the club that began when he allegedly "made it rain" by throwing thousands of dollars in cash onto the stage, then became angry when dancers began collecting the money, which he apparently expected to be returned to him.
After club staff intervened in the ensuing altercation, Jones and his entourage were escorted out of the club. Shortly after, at around 5 AM, a gunman returned to the club and opened fire, hitting three people. The most seriously injured was club manager Tommy Urbanski, who was left paralyzed from the waist down. Another security guard and a female patron were also wounded.
The shooter, Arvin Kenti Edwards, was later arrested and identified as having been with Jones's group earlier that evening. While Jones was not the shooter, prosecutors alleged he had met with Edwards shortly before the shooting and had a role in organizing the attack. Edwards was eventually convicted and sentenced to 4-10 years in prison.
The legal aftermath was extensive. Jones pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. He received a one-year suspended sentence and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. More significantly, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Jones for the entire 2007 season due to this and other incidents.
The financial consequences were substantial. In 2012, a Nevada Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling ordering Jones to pay $11.6 million to Urbanski and $1.3 million to Aaron Cudworth, another security guard who was shot. Jones appealed but ultimately reached settlements with the victims. The exact terms of these settlements were not made public.
Post-Shooting Football Career
In February 2009, the Cowboys released Adam, reportedly after team officials discovered that he was a suspect in the 2007 Atlanta strip club shooting incident. In August 2009, he signed a one-year contract with the Canadian Football League team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but the following month, the team decided that they were no longer interested after Jones made comments they didn't like in an online video.
He signed a two-year contract with the Cincinnati Bengals in May 2010, followed by three-year deals in 2013 and 2016. In October 2010, Adam injured his neck again and had to miss the rest of the season, and in 2015, he was fined after an altercation with Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach Joey Porter during the Wild Card Round. Jones missed the first game of the 2017 season because he had been suspended for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy, and in December of that year, he was placed on injured reserve after suffering a groin injury. In March 2018, Adam became a free agent, and he signed with the Denver Broncos in August. He played seven games before the team released him in November, and he announced his retirement on May 24, 2019.
(Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for SiriusXM )
Personal Life
Adam married Tishana Holmes on July 5, 2014, and they have welcomed three children together. His longtime friend Chris Henry died in 2009, and in a 2021 interview, Jones revealed that he had adopted Henry's sons. Adam said of the decision, "Everybody knew Chris and I were best friends in college. I'm still close with his whole family. I'm still close with Lane, the boys' mom. We're inseparable. We were just talking — I said, 'I've got to take the boys so I can take what we've done so far and maximize it.' We've been working on this for 3-4 years and finally got it done. For me, it's heartwarming because I know my man is up there smiling and saying, 'I really appreciate you.'"
Legal Problems
On July 14, 2005, Jones was arrested on charges of assault and felony vandalism after a nightclub altercation in Nashville, Tennessee. On September 5, 2005, he was a guest at the annual Nashville Sports Council Kickoff Luncheon and was "counseled" by police after a loud verbal tantrum in which he was told to wait in line for his vehicle. In February 2006, Adam was arrested in Fayetteville, Georgia, after an incident outside a home. Charges of marijuana possession were quickly dismissed, but the state pressed charges for felony and misdemeanor counts of obstruction of justice.
Jones was suspended from the NFL for the entire 2007 season and for part of the 2008 season for off-the-field conduct, which began the morning of February 19, 2007, during the NBA All-Star Game weekend in Las Vegas. He was allegedly involved in an altercation with an exotic dancer at Minxx, a local strip club.
In October 2008, Adam sought treatment at an alcohol rehabilitation center not long after getting into an altercation with his bodyguard in a hotel room in Dallas. In early 2017, he was arrested in Cincinnati for disorderly conduct, obstructing official business, assault, and harassment with a bodily substance, and a few months later, he pleaded guilty to obstructing a police officer after accepting a plea deal. In July 2018, he was attacked by an employee at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.
In February 2021, Jones was arrested for misdemeanor assault in Hamilton County, Ohio, after "punching and kicking another person in the head until they were unconscious."
In November 2024, Jones was arrested in Arlington, Texas, after the Mike Tyson/Jake Paul boxing match. He was allegedly involved in a fight.
Real Estate
In 2006, Jones paid $1.575 million for a home set on 30 acres in Franklin, Tennessee. He sold the home for $1.35 million in 2008. At one point foreclosure proceedings were initiated on the house.
