CINCINNATI -- Adam "Pacman" Jones insists his eagerness to play Sunday in Tennessee has nothing to do with what happened during his stormy three years as a Titan.
After one year away because of a neck injury, the Cincinnati Bengals cornerback and punt returner just wants to get on the field for an entire game.
The Bengals (5-2) will visit the place where Jones' career started with such great promise and crashed so fast. He was the sixth overall draft pick in 2005 and earned a starting job as a rookie, but he let his career quickly unravel with a series of arrests and suspensions.
Jones said it took him a couple of years to come to peace with what happened in Tennessee, where he was suspended by the team for one game in 2006 and by the NFL for the entire 2007 season because of his arrests. He was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2008 and suspended again. Jones was out of football in 2009.
Jones has been arrested once while with the Bengals. He pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest for a disturbance at a downtown bar last July. He's scheduled for trial Nov. 17.
Now 28, Jones has revived his career with the Bengals, who signed him last season after he'd been out of football for a year. The game Sunday is a chance to show Tennessee (4-3) that he's still around.
"I know people are like, 'He can't wait to get back down there and show off' or this and that," Jones said. "But I've came to past with Tennessee. I have no regrets. I'm happy here in Cincinnati. The city of Cincinnati is what I'm worried about. I could care less about Tennessee."
Jones immediate concern is a sore hamstring that could keep him out of the game.
Jones signed a two-year deal with Cincinnati last year, getting a chance to revive his career. He injured a neck disk in October and needed surgery. He had another procedure over the summer, pushing back his return.
Jones finally got back on the field last Sunday in Seattle. The first time he touched the ball, he returned a punt 63 yards to set up a touchdown in a 34-12 win. He grabbed the right hamstring as he ran out of bounds on the return, then spent the rest of the game on the sideline.
Jones said the hamstring was at about 60 percent strength by midweek, leaving him questionable for the game. He worked out Wednesday and Thursday but didn't participate in practice.
"I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize myself, first of all, or what we're trying to do as a team," Jones said. "If it's better for me to sit out this week and wait till next week to play for myself and my team, that's what I would do.
"Like I said, we'll make decisions accordingly. Right now, I don't know."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
