Although Martin Mayhew said that "nothing is imminent" on the Pacman Jones front, he did confirm that the Lions are interested in the free agent at the NFL owners meetings on Tuesday.
When asked if the Lions had a strong interest in Jones or are merely performing their due diligence, Mayhew said, "Probably somewhere between those two things. If it was strong, we would've signed him after the workout - he had a really good workout from what I understand. But we've got to do some more research on him.''
Nothing is imminent because the Lions want to take the time to continue to evaluate Jones. Part of that evaluation process will include a meeting between Jones and Mayhew, and according to Mayhew, that would likely be the next step before anything else happens.
"First of all, he hasn't been in trouble for two years now. That's a good sign,'' said Mayhew, who has talked extensively with a former teammate of his, Deion Sanders, who is helping Jones try to get back into the NFL. "Deion had a lot of positive things to say and I'd like to sit down and talk to him personally myself. We don't have a date set up but I think that would be the next step for us.''
Mayhew obviously wants to be 100% sure that Jones has his life on track and will stay out of trouble if he is indeed signed by the Lions. There is not necessarily a clear cut guarantee that any player will stay out of trouble, but if Mayhew comes away from a meeting with Jones and has a negative impression, then that part of the evaluation process would likely diminish the Lions' interest in him. At the same time, if Jones meets with Mayhew and impresses the Lions' general manager, then a signing could happen sooner than expected. It's all part of a process the Lions want to go through before making a decision one way or another, and I definitely like to see that the team is doing as much research as it can before finalizing anything.