He's not a free agent. Fred Jackson still has a year remaining on the long term deal he signed prior to the 2009 season. However, the Bills feature back has expressed to the Bills, and more than once publicly, that he'd like to renegotiate his contract. As Jackson and his teammates cleaned out their lockers Monday, he remained hopeful that it would be addressed by the team.
When asked how soon he'd like a new and improved accord to be reached between him and the Bills Jackson preferred sooner rather than later.
"Obviously as soon as possible," he said. "We'll see what happens with that. I'll just put faith in Buddy (Nix) and see what happens. But the sooner it happens for me, the better for myself."
Jackson said a one-on-one conversation with Bills GM Buddy Nix back in the fall left him optimistic that the club would address his contract, one which he believes he has outperformed with his production on the field.
To this point however, Jackson said there have not been any new developments.
"We haven't talked at all," he said. "They've had a lot that they've had to take care of so we'll see where it stands. Hopefully I'll get a phone call soon or something like that. So we'll see."
Jackson seems to respect the fact that there are some other starters on offense that have pressing contract situations as well. Left tackle Demetrius Bell, tight end Scott Chandler and wide receiver Stevie Johnson are all scheduled to be unrestricted free agents come March 13th when the NFL free agent market opens.
"There's a lot that has to be taken care of but it's usually like that at the end of every season," said Jackson. "Hopefully we get as many guys back as possible on offense because we felt like we were able to do some good things. We'll see what happens."
Buffalo's feature back was one of the top two players in the league in total yards from scrimmage and was leading the league in rushing when he suffered a fractured fibula against the Dolphins in Week 11. He was placed on injured reserve the following week.
Jackson is almost fully recovered from the injury at this point.
"The leg is doing good," he said. "I just talked to the doctors. I've got about a week and a half before I can start doing everything like normal. That's good and as soon as I can get back doing everything I will. That's the plan. I want to jump right back into it like nothing happened."
