Thomas Jones Changes Tactics, Returns To Jets Camp

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Thomas Jones showed up Wednesday and worked out for two days with the rest of the Jets. He wore a tight white T-shirt with the sleeves cut off, and everybody noticed.

"I said, 'Welcome back, Eddie George,'" guard Damien Woody joked, "because he's just so big. He looks like he's been down in South Beach pumping a bunch of iron."

Jones had been skipping the voluntary portion of the Jets' off-season workout program because he wants the team to restructure his contract. But after his agent met with Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum last week at the owners' meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Jones decided to reverse course and join the team for this week's optional OTAs. The Jets, who have not shown any interest in restructuring Jones' deal, are hoping the change of heart his permanent.

"I want him to be here. I want them all to be here," coach Rex Ryan said. "But I'm not a guy where it's voluntary-mandatory. This is a voluntary camp and the fact that he's here is really encouraging to me. Is he here because he wants to show off to me? Maybe so, because he certainly looks the part, and I've been impressed. But you'll have to ask him."

That didn't prove possible, however, as Jones declined to speak to the media after practice. Ryan said he'd received no assurances that Jones would be back next week for the next round of voluntary camp, only that Jones seemed "happy to be on the field with his teammates" and that he expected him (and fellow holdout Leon Washington) to be in camp when mandatory workouts begin June 9.

A person familiar with Jones' thinking indicated that the running back hopes his being on the field, in great shape, for the voluntary workouts will encourage the team to re-think his contract. He made $13.1 million the past two years and is slated to make $900,000 in this, the third year of his four-year contract. His concern is that the team will cut him in 2010, so he'd like to get more of his 2010 money now. But the new tactic appears to be to show the team that, even at age 30, he's a good future bet.

"He's 30, and you've always got to look toward the future," Woody said. "But TJ's a pro, and he's been in this business a while. And when it comes to football, he's all about his business. That's what we expect him to be. It's great to have him here."

Washington, meanwhile, remains absent, and is hoping for a new deal that improves on the $535,000 salary he's scheduled to make in 2009. The team has been in discussion with Washington on a new deal, but so far there hasn't been enough progress to get him into camp.