Just 18 hours after a near-death experience, New York Giants rookie safety Chad Jones has football on his mind.
Jones, who broke his left leg and ankle in a one-car accident Friday and had doctors worried they might have to amputate his foot, has improved so dramatically, according to his father, Al Jones, that he was thinking of returning to the football field, the *New York Post* reported Sunday.
"Football is always going to be on Chad's mind," Al Jones told the Post. "When he's 90 years old with great-grandchildren, he's going to be thinking about playing football again. It has to be that way.
"That's his first love, that's his love. Quite naturally, he's thinking about a whole lot of other things, too, but he's glad to be able to think about those things."
Chad Jones underwent more than seven hours of surgery Friday in New Orleans to repair the broken left leg and ankle that he sustained when his sport-utility vehicle smashed into a pole. Jones won't play this coming season, and his agent, Rocky Arceneaux, told NFL.com's Steve Wyche that it was too early to say if his son's injuries are career-threatening.
Al Jones said doctors confirmed Saturday that there was sufficient blood flow to his son's mangled foot and ankle that they will not have to amputate. Even more good news came when the family received a call from their son asking his mother and father to return to the hospital so he could speak with them.
"The [breathing] tubes were removed out of his mouth, and he told us to come back and see him," Jones said. "He wanted to talk to us. He knew we were by him. He felt us. So he wanted to talk."
The Giants drafted Chad Jones, a safety from LSU, in the third round of April's draft. He was a member of the Tigers' 2007 BCS national championship team and also was a left-handed relief pitcher for the LSU baseball squad that won the 2009 College World Series.