National Football League

Still chasing NFL dream, Chad Jones joins Giants

Published Nov. 29, 2011 4:50 a.m. ET

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Uncertain as Chad Jones' NFL future might be, no one is questioning his will to get back on the field for the New York Giants.

The Giants invited Jones to join them on the sideline when they visited his native New Orleans for Monday night's game against the Saints. Wearing a blue Giants wind-breaker, he skipped out of the Superdome tunnel with the first few players to emerge during the team's introduction, waving both arms as if he was firing himself up to play.

Although Jones may never play in the NFL, the former LSU star has not given up, and the Giants continue to encourage their 2010 third-round pick, who intends to report for training camp next summer.

''That's definitely realistically in the plans,'' Jones said shortly before the game. ''As long as I'm still progressing ... I see no reason why I shouldn't be out there with the team, so I'm feeling pretty good about it.''

Jones' future as a pro athlete has been in doubt since late June 2010, right after his first minicamp with the Giants, when he lost control of his new sport utility vehicle and it rolled into a stanchion holding overhead wires for the red street cars that run from the head of Canal Street, where the French Quarter meets downtown, out to City Park.

The wreck crushed the bones in the lower part of his left leg. He had nerve damage and doctors had to remove a chunk of muscle from his left thigh to prevent infection from broken pieces of metal imbedded there from the wreck.

Jones had a rod inserted from the top of his shin to the bottom of his ankle to help realign shattered bone and help it bond back together. He also needed an arterial transplant, performed by using a vein from his other leg, to restore blood flow to the area.

When Jones was first able to try walking, nerve damage prevented him from flexing his foot so that it would land heel-first. Instead, his toes would drag, a condition known as ''drop foot.''

In the days after the accident, there were questions about whether he'd ever walk normally again, never mind run well enough to continue his career as a pro athlete.

''There was definitely times when I got down and questioned, `Is this actually going to happen,''' Jones recalled.

A nerve transplant was considered until it appeared Jones' nerves were healing on their own, and he was able to walk normally again.

Now, he can run a 40-yard dash in just over 4.8 seconds - nearly 3 tenths of a second slower than his pre-injury time, but far faster than anyone ever expected at this point in his rehabilitation, said his physical therapist, John Moran.

''Looking at the anatomy of the fracture, the X-Rays, the first time I met Chad, seeing the open wound and condition he was in, I can see why so many medical staff would say he's never going to run again or never play football again,'' Moran recalled. ''You'd look at X-Ray and you're like, `Wow, this thing's horrible.'''

Nonetheless, Moran, an LSU fan who remembered Jones winning national titles with the Tigers in both football (2007) and baseball (2009), encouraged Jones to approach rehabilitation as if he intended to play again.

''People would say we're setting him up for failure, but knowing what type of athlete he is and how young he is, I knew if he didn't give 100 percent and try his best, that 10 years from now he'd look back and regret it,'' Moran said.

Initially, Moran said, Jones would temporarily succumb to bouts of depression, not showing up for therapy for more than and week, and not answering his phone.

''He would kind of go into hiding but always find it within himself to work even harder when he returned,'' Moran said.

The Giants helped, even with small gestures that built morale, such as sending him boxes of official team workout gear to wear during rehab.

Including him in Monday night's game helped even more. He spent time at the team hotel on Sunday night and in the locker room before the game.

''It's great to just visualize this,'' Jones said. ''It's something to look forward to and work hard about tomorrow.''

From August 2010 until last July, Jones worked with Moran on regaining his full range of motion in his left leg.

Since last July, he also has been working with two trainers, one specializing in speed and agility and the other in strength and conditioning.

The last time he was a no-show for a workout was during August, when the Giants were playing a Monday night preseason game. Jones drove to a suburban fitness center, where he was slated to work out with his strength coach, Carter Stamm, then turned around and drove home. Stamm then packed up some weights in his car and tracked Jones down at his home. Stamm told Jones he'd never get back each precious day of rehab he skipped between then and the time he hoped to return to the Giants in 2012, and that he needed to stay on track. Moments later, they were working out in Jones' living room.

Jones now works out six days a week, often twice a day, running at midday and lifting weights in the evening. He'll run 10 110-yard sprints across a football field in one conditioning session.

Moran said that, fortunately, Jones' joints were not significantly damaged, nor were the muscles used for sprinting and jumping. The muscle tissue he lost in his thigh cannot be replaced, but the muscle he has left there can grow stronger to the point where it compensates for the loss, Moran said.

Moran added that while Jones' 40-yard times remain slower than before the injury, his initial 10-yard split times are faster, meaning his foot speed is close to where it needs to be, and that only his endurance is lacking.

Trainers are also maintaining Jones' arm strength, just in case circumstances inspire Jones to try baseball again. The lefty threw over 90 miles per hour as a reliever for LSU's national title team, and was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers.

For Jones' father, Al, a former Tulane football player, his son's rehabilitation is gratifying on many levels, whether an NFL career materializes or not.

''I'm just so happy that he has hope. If he has hope, knowing Chad, good things are going to happen for him,'' the elder Jones said. ''We have faith and our prayers are being answered, and I'm just so happy for him that he's able to attempt to do something that he wants to do, because the bottom line in all this is that he's setting himself up to be successful.''

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