As we all know from Drew Rosenhaus' Twitter feed, grumpy Jets running back Thomas Jones plans to report to the team's voluntary workouts this week after skipping them all so far this off-season because he doesn't like his contract anymore. But according to Rich Cimini in the New York Daily News, Jones' change of heart doesn't mean the Jets have had one on their end.The Jets have been playing hardball with Jones, going so far as to draft Iowa RB Shonn Greene in the third round of last month's draft as a way of telling Jones he could be replaced. When Rosenhaus met with Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum earlier this week at the NFL owners' meetings in Fort Lauderdale, it doesn't appear as if he got any satisfaction, according to Cimini:
"There was some speculation earlier this week that perhaps the Jets had agreed to re-do Jones' deal. Not so.Jones made $13.1 million the past two years and is slated to make $900,000 this year and $5.8 million in 2010. His concern is apparently that the Jets will cut him prior to 2010 after getting him on the cheap this year, and so he wants more of the 2010 money now. The Jets' contention is that it was Jones who wanted the deal front-loaded in the first place, and that $14 million over three years is a fine number for a back who does what Jones does.
In that sense, the Jets won their stare down with Jones, who has been boycotting voluntary workouts. There's always the chance they got him back by promising to address his contract in the future, assuming he's a good soldier. That's how they placated TE Chris Baker and WR Laveranues Coles."
In the meantime, the Jets are continuing talks on a new contract with running back Leon Washington, who joined Jones in skipping voluntary workouts a couple of weeks ago. The Jets view Washington's case as different from that of Jones because Washington has never had the chance Jones had to be a free agent and because Washington, who catches the ball and returns kicks, can help them in a greater variety of ways than Jones can.
