LT's signing with Jets came down to staff, scheme, personnel likes

Financial terms were not immediately available, but a league source said Tomlinson chose New York over Minnesota because of: 1. Scheme: New York runs the same

Jim Trotter | Mar 14, 2010

LT's signing with Jets came down to staff, scheme, personnel likes /

Financial terms were not immediately available, but a league source said Tomlinson chose New York over Minnesota because of:

1. Scheme: New York runs the same offense that LT played under for nine seasons in San Diego, rushing for 12,490 yards and 138 touchdowns. He would have had to learn a new playbook and verbiage in Minnesota. The Jets also are committed to the running game; their 607 rushes last season were 82 more than any other team, and Tomlinson wanted to get back to a ground-oriented attack after San Diego transitioned to an aerial assault in 2007, when Norv Turner replaced Marty Schottenheimer as coach.

2. Staff: Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer -- Marty's son -- was the quarterbacks coach in San Diego for five of Tomlinson's first six seasons, including 2006 when Tomlinson won the first of two rushing titles and his only league MVP. Tomlinson's familiarity with the younger Schottenheimer was important from a comfort standpoint.

3. Personnel: Tominson said from the start that he wanted to play on a team that had an established quarterback, and the uncertainty over Brett Favre's future was a factor. Favre led the Vikings to the NFC Championship game in his first year with Minnesota, but he's mulling retirement and has been given no deadline for making a decision. If Favre calls it a career, the Vikings presumably would turn to Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson, neither of whom has proven himself to be a capable fulltime starter.

The Jets are not getting the Tomlinson who broke or matched 28 Chargers records during his career. He turns 31 in June and is coming off a season in which he set career lows for carries (223), yards (730) and yards per carry (3.3). But Tomlinson believes his decline in production each of the past three seasons is largely a function of the change in emphasis, with Turner running the offense through QB Philip Rivers.

In New York, Tomlinson will back up and mentor Shonn Greene, a bruising second-year pro who came into his own late last season. Tomlinson is expected to spell him in passing situations and on third-down and help fill the void from Thomas Jones' release. Jones ran for 1,402 yards and 14 TDs last season, but the team released him because it didn't want to pay the nearly $6 million in salary and bonus that Jones was scheduled to earn this year. Jones has since signed with Kansas City.

Published Mar 14, 2010

JIM TROTTER

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Followers of the NFL have long relied on Jim Trotter for his dogged reporting and astute insights. Trotter joined Sports Illustrated as a senior writer in September 2007. Before that he spent nearly 18 years at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where he climbed the ladder from preps reporter to lead NFL writer. He spent nine years covering the San Diego Chargers, who did not have a winning record or reach the playoffs in his first eight years on the beat. The team finally ended the drought in 2004, after which Trotter began covering the league at large. Trotter cites three stories as the most memorable of his SI career: a 2007 piece on the death of Sean Taylor because, "It allowed us to examine his life beyond the stereotypes that had been attached to him"; a 2011 feature on Tim Tebow and the Broncos, whose run to the playoffs was nearly as indescribable as it was improbable; and a 2012 piece on the remaking of the Raiders following the death of longtime patriarch Al Davis. Born in San Francisco, Trotter graduated from Howard University in 1986 with a degree in communications and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee. In addition to his SI duties, Trotter has made appearances on numerous national media outlets, including CNN, Fox News, ESPN, NFL Network, and The Jim Rome Show. He also has been a guest on radio shows across the country. Trotter resides in San Diego.