MANHATTAN — The New York Jets signed LaDainlian Tomlinson, one of the NFL's most prolific running backs, to a two-year contract on Sunday after cutting veteran Thomas Jones last month.
Tomlinson will get a reported $5.2 million from the Jets to back up second-year running back Shonn Greene.
“He wanted to go to a team that he thought had a chance to compete for the championship,” his agent Tom Condon told the Associated Press.
Tomlinson, 30, ranks eighth on the NFL’s career rushing list with 12,490 yards and has scored 153 career touchdowns, including 138 on the ground.
However, Tomlinson has battled leg injuries over the last two seasons and ran for a career-low 730 yards in 2009, averaging just 3.3 yards per carry.
New York hopes a healthy Tomlinson will increase his production behind one of the top offensive lines in football.
"I like it...LaDainian running behind our line...I think he'll put up better numbers than people think," Jets right tackle Damien Woody tweeted to fans after hearing about the signing Sunday.
Tomlinson put up good receiving numbers early on in his career before ceding the third-down back role to Darren Sproles in San Diego over the last three seasons. He caught 100 passes in 2003, but just 20 last season.
He'll compete for third-down touches with speedy running back Leon Washington, who missed most of the 2009 season with a broken leg.
Tomlinson replaced Jones who signed a two-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs last week after being cut by the Jets. Jones, 31, ran for a career-high 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns for the Jets last season, but he became expendable after the emergence of Greene in the playoffs.
Jones was slated to make $5.8 million with the Jets this season.
