BY RICH CAMPBELL
ASHBURN
--The last two weeks of July could have been a total bummer for Levi Jones, but he didn't view it that way.For the first time in seven years, a new NFL season began without him. All 32 teams reported to training camp, and their offensive lines began to jell for the upcoming campaign. Jones, meanwhile, trained on his own near his home in Arizona, away from the action and the spotlight.
And he was OK with that. He was waiting for a specific fit, a certain combination of a contract and a chance for playing time. When none materialized, he accepted it and waited.
And then the Washington Redskins called. Starting left tackle Chris Samuels was out for the season with a neck injury. Their line was decimated.
It was, as Jones put it, "a golden opportunity." He signed a one-year, veteran-minimum deal on Oct. 20.
Three weeks later, he is the Redskins' third starting left tackle of the season. He has the chance to prove to the rest of the league that he's not the washed up, injury-prone player some perceive him to be. His patience has paid off.
"What have I missed, [18] games out of, what, [112]--but they label me injury prone?" Jones asked incredulously. "I definitely want to get that off and show people that I'm ready to play and return to the elite status that I once had."
Jones, indeed, was once considered elite. The Cincinnati Bengals drafted him 10th overall in 2002. He was the third tackle drafted that year. The first? Why, none other than the Redskins' Mike Williams, whose ankle injury last week created a trickle-down effect that opened a starting spot for Jones.
He became a starter as a rookie and a long-term stalwart on the Bengals' line. He started 98 percent of their snaps from 2003-04, and he helped them to the playoffs in 2005.
Jones, 30, took pride in his ability to play through pain. He was taught at Arizona State that there is no such thing as an injury, he said. That's why in the final month of the 2003 season, Jones played every snap in a game only six days after arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage in his knee.
But the injuries mounted after that, and he couldn't just push the pain from his mind. An ankle and knee injury limited him to six games in 2006. Last season, scar tissue near his hamstring pinched a nerve in his right leg.
"I really couldn't do anything," Jones said. "I really couldn't get down in my stance. I really couldn't get out of my stance. Basically, I really couldn't play, but I made it through 10 games.
"But now I'm back to feeling good and back to being able to do the things I used to do that had me in the league this long."
That's what he's out to prove, anyway.
His play suffered last season when, as he put it, he was playing on one leg. He fell out of favor with Bengals management and became expendable when they drafted tackle Andre Smith in the first round. Jones isn't bitter, though. He says his departure from Cincinnati was mutual.
He is healthy again and has this new opportunity to showcase himself. But the situation into which Jones is being thrust isn't ideal.
He has had less than four weeks to learn the Redskins' offense. And he joins a maligned offensive line that has surrendered 19 sacks in four games since Samuels went down.
"It's definitely a challenge," quarterback Jason Campbell said. "It's not like he was here in the preseason where he's had the chance to get some warmup games. He's stepping right into the midst of a storm."
Make that the eye of the storm.
Jones will match up on Sunday against Denver Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil, the NFL's co-leader in sacks with 10.5. Dumervil had one sack in their only previous meeting.
"He's definitely difficult for a lot of tackles that can't get down there and play with him, can't bend their knees," Jones said. "The people that struggle with him the most are the taller people he can run underneath because the guy is 5-11, and he's good and he strong."
Campbell was asked how confident he feels with Jones protecting his blind side. You'll forgive Washington's beat-up quarterback for not expressing much optimism about anything relating to the line these days.
"We're going to do everything we can to encourage [Jones], everything we can to push him--even if I have to buy him a couple meals," Campbell cracked.
Jones, however, believes he can still play at a high level. He waited for this chance, and he has it now.
This, after all, is what he wanted.
"It wasn't necessarily an issue of me having confidence in myself," Jones said. "It's a new scheme. All the plays are different, and in this case the techniques are different. I've got a good grasp on all of that, so I'm going in fairly confident."
Rich Campbell: 540/735-1974
Email: rcampbell@freelancestar.com
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