Thomas Jones: Staying or Going?

This past season the Jets had the number one rushing attack in the National Football League. All three of their runningbacks, Shonn Greene, Leon Washington, and Thomas Jones, had big seasons.

Washington was, unfortunately, lost for the season to a severely broken leg in week seven against the Raiders. Washington, the do-it-all runningback, broke his on a six-yard carry and is out six to twelve months. At the time he was having his usual big season, carrying the ball 71 times for 325 yards, 15 catches for 131 yards, and 16 kickoff returns for 385 yards. His injury increased the workload for rookie back Shonn Greene.


Greene took that role and ran with it, so to speak. He helped run the Jets right to the playoffs, but, of course, he did not do it alone. Led by Thomas Jones's career high 1402 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns, the Jets committed to their philosophy of ground and pound and it led them all the way to a Wild Card birth in the AFC playoff bracket.

However, the title of this article was not written because Thomas Jones had a spectacular, career year. It is because he was relegated to back-up duty in the playoffs as Shonn Greene shined in his new starting role, rushing for over 100 yards in the first two playoff games before being halted by the Colts run defense in the AFC Championship game.

His 304 rushing yards for the playoffs is a rookie record and when he went out with a rib injury against the Colts, the Jets rushing attack went with him.

The talk is that the Jets are going to cut Jones so they don't have to pay his $2.8 million cap hit, but if you think about it this is the talk because Greene had a sensational postseason that showed that he is the future back of this football team. Many people believe that with the rise of Greene and return of Washington, the team does not need Jones's services as much as before.

Rich Cimini of the New York Daily News laid out the reasons why the Jets should hang onto Thomas Jones early last week, mainly that Leon Washington's return to form is in question (and the team will want more than just Shonn Greene in the backfield), and Jones is considered a team leader.

Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum addressed the Jones issue during his season-ending presser, and said, "We hope to have him back," but acknowledged financial problems could be a factor in his final decision.

I happen to completely agree with Cimini. Washington's return to form is not guaranteed, especially because he is coming off a serious leg injury, and Greene would only be a second year back with inexperience. Jones provides the Jets best chance of keeping together their great trio for their ground and pound attack on offense.

They could be like the Giants Super Bowl winning team of 2008 with their Earth, Wind and Fire trio of backs. Washington would be the wind, Greene would be the Earth and Jones would be the fire. It spells success and I think the Jets need to keep Jones. March cuts are right around the corner so we'll see what the Jets decide.