PacMan?
ARLINGTON, Texas – In reference to his football career, Adam “Pacman” Jones considers himself standing on the edge of a cliff.
One more wrong move, or “slip-up” as he calls it, and he said his playing days will probably be sent overboard.
But that being said, Jones not only wants another chance to prove himself on the football field, he spent Tuesday at the very place he hopes to get that next opportunity.
Jones was in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as a special guest to the “Michael Irvin Show” on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM, which offices in Arlington, only minutes from the Cowboys’ new stadium that is about halfway completed and scheduled to open in 2009.
The local station flew in Jones and his agent Manny Arora and asked the suspended Titans cornerback a variety of questions regarding his current suspension from the NFL, his childhood days, his troubled past and his chances of joining the Dallas Cowboys, something he continued to reiterate on several occasions on Tuesday.
“It’s no where else I really want to play right now,” Jones said as he was leaving the station and heading toward his limo waiting outside. “This is where I want to be. Mostly, it was a childhood dream. The Cowboys are America’s Team, period and point blank. This is where I want to be and hopefully it can work out in the long run.”
Of course, Jones is hoping it’s not that long of a run toward Dallas.
While he is currently a member of the Tennessee Titans, Jones is nearing a full year of being suspended by the NFL for a string of off-the-field incidents that include various arrests for his involvement in altercations in Nashville and Las Vegas.
Jones was suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on April 10, 2007, for one season. While he’s hoping to be reinstated before the NFL Draft at the end of April, Jones said he will be ready whenever Goodell decides to lift the suspension. There has even been talk the league will wait to decide on Jones until closer to the start of training camp in July.
However, Jones doesn’t need to be reinstated by the league to be traded.
While leaving the radio station on Tuesday, Arora told reporters the ball remains in the Titans’ court in terms of conducting a trade with the Cowboys, or any other team.
“It’s up to them. Us contacting other teams accomplishes nothing,” Arora said, “Tennessee has to work out what they are going to do and then we will follow. They have to work out a trade with another team. I can go anywhere and get a great contract done but if they don’t agree on a trade, it’s a waste of time. Tennessee will let us know when they are ready.”
If a trade is made, the Cowboys would likely take on Jones’ current contract with the intent of restructuring the deal, which still has three years remaining. Jones said Tuesday he has no problem with the Cowboys reworking the deal, which calls for him to make about $1.3 million in base salary. While that isn’t a huge problem for the Cowboys, the escalator clauses in the final two years of the deal are something the club would likely try to remove, possibly replacing them with performance- and playing-time based incentives that Jones could still achieve.
But the Cowboys would seem to hold the cards in reworking a deal based on Jones’ series of off-the-field problems, which he didn’t shy away from on Tuesday.
When asked by Irvin and his fellow co-host Kevin Kiley, Jones was rather defensive about some of the incidents that have checkered his past. While he talked at length about the incidents that even stem back to his collegiate days at West Virginia, Jones seemed to downplay most of the situations, even saying they were somewhat “overblown.”
“I am saying I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve learned from them,” Jones said “I’m not saying I haven’t done nothing wrong. I’m not saying that.
“I would say they have been blown out of proportion. My whole point is, whether it was the right way to handle it or the wrong way to handle, I’m expecting responsibility for whatever way it was handled. I want you to see the inside of the book whether than the outside of the book. I take full responsibility for my actions.”
While Jones is looking for another chance, he knows the Cowboys and team owner/general manager Jerry Jones have a history of reaching out to players with sketchy pasts.
Not only was Jones interviewed by one of those players in Irvin, who battled legal issues during his 12-year career with the Cowboys, but the cornerback said he has spoken with current wide receiver Terrell Owens as well.
Owens has not had brushes with the law like Irvin, Jones or even Tank Johnson, whom the Cowboys signed last season after he served an eight-game suspension from Goodell for repeated incidents involving altercations and gun charges. But Owens was given another chance by Jones after he was released by the Eagles for conduct detrimental to the team that resulted in an eight-game suspension and eventual release by Philadelphia following the 2005 season.
Pacman Jones said he recently talked with Owens about the potential of playing in Dallas.
“He said it’s a great city as long as you keep your head straight,” Jones said of Owens. “The sky is the limit. That’s what he told me. The best thing for a person is to get advice from someone who has been there. It’s real good to have a person that has been through it.
“We didn’t really get into all that about Jerry. It’s obvious that Jerry gives people a second chance. Hopefully, I can get one of those second chances and I can be wearing a Dallas Cowboys uniform next year.”
And if that is the case, Jones should be able to contribute on the field. In two years with the Titans, the former No. 1 draft pick (sixth overall) in 2005 has four career interceptions, with one returned for a touchdown. Jones also has returned four punts for touchdowns, including three in 2006.
Why Jones has always had the ability, he probably has even more confidence. When asked where he thinks he ranks in terms of today’s cornerbacks, he was quick to answer.
“I’m the best. Hands down,” Pacman said. “As far as the complete package goes, I’m the best.”
But even Jones knows he won’t be able to prove that again if he doesn’t change his ways off the field.
“It’s like I’m on a cliff right now,” Jones said. “Any slip-up and I’m off the cliff.”
