After nearly losing leg, Miles trying to make Jets roster

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) -- Rontez Miles thought it was just a really bad bruise at first, and then his right leg started aching and swelling like a balloon.

It got to the point where the New York Jets safety could barely walk, so he went to see John Mellody, the team's head athletic trainer - and the news was jarring.

''If I remember his exact words,'' Miles recalled after practice Monday, ''he said, 'If I'm right, I could save your leg.'''

It was last December 18, and Miles found out he would be on the team's active roster for the first time all season. He had played in only one other game with the Jets, in his rookie season the previous year, so Miles was amped up. He hit the practice field before just about everyone else and prepared for special teams drills.

One play in, he got tangled up with a teammate, who smacked into his lower right leg.

Just a few hours later, he was in an emergency room having the leg operated on - praying it didn't need to be amputated.

''I was like, 'Whoa!' when they told me what was going on,'' Miles said. ''It was mind-blowing.''