Redskins tailback Clinton Portis landed on injured reserve with a torn groin muscle in late November. Now 29 years old, Portis will finish the 2010 season having missed 19 of his last 32 possible games. Only four active running backs have more career carries: LaDainian Tomlinson, 31 years old, Fred Taylor, 34, Thomas Jones, 32, and Ricky Williams, 33.
Portis told the Washington Post Wednesday that he still believes he can be a “top-flight back” in the NFL.
“I know I got good football left in me,” said Portis. “I think being fresh, having been really in the last two years not having a lot of contact, I think the two injuries -- going out with a concussion, and then the torn groin -- was really fluke injuries. I don’t think that’s wear and tear, like ‘oh his body broke down.’ I think that was just fluke injuries.”
Portis did show a bit of spark with 32 yards on five carries in Week Eleven at Tennessee, but ultimately didn’t exceed 13 rushing attempts after receiving eighteen in the Redskins’ opener. Odds are, his body has broken down.
Portis also reiterated that he would like to play another year in Washington, but not with a pay cut.
“I played for pennies in Denver,” said Portis. “And I guess would be considered awesome [in his time as a Bronco]. And I gave everything I had in Washington, D.C., and was supposedly overpaid. ... So that’s up to them. I can’t sit here and say, ‘ooh, I want to take a pay cut.’ I really want a pay raise, to be honest.”
He was apparently joking with the last comment.
Portis is due $8.254 million in 2011 salary, none of which is guaranteed. Rather than speaking to the local rags, he might be better off pushing his wares in running back-needy cities like Indianapolis, Miami, Cincinnati, and Seattle.
Because he won’t be back in D.C.