Weeks later, the gun debate would grow even louder after the Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre.

Jones -- who played with Belcher and owns a handgun -- said there's a much bigger picture to consider.

"I loved Jovan like a brother, but he did something terrible, horrible, and we can't take that back," Jones said. "But to segue into (saying there is) a gun culture in the NFL ... makes me sick to my stomach."

Jones started playing football at age 7 in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The oldest of seven kids, he describes his childhood as a simple country life. He said his family was so big they had to make two trips to church on Sundays -- half the family at a time. And, sometimes the family went without basic necessities, including heat.

Jones stepped into a different world as a professional athlete after graduating from the University of Virginia, he said, a world that has brought good fortune but one that also leaves him contemplating the future.

Since retiring from the Chiefs last season, Jones turned his attention to letting people know that life after football also has risks.

He's hopeful that the NFL will create new ways to make the sport safer, but, he said, "Football is football, it's a gladiator sport. Unfortunately, that's part of the game."

Jones said he is creating his documentary series to give viewers an insider look at NFL players' lives without the helmet. In one scene, former NFL defensive end Adewale Ogunleye laments about his memory loss.

"I know my memory's screwed up at times, I know I be forgetting things," Ogunleye says. "I kind of laugh it off now, but ... I hope these concussions don't come back to haunt us in the end."

Through this documentary, Jones hopes he can shed light on the human side of professional football.

"Even though we can do superhuman things, it seems, on the football field, it doesn't make us superhuman off the field," he said.