It's actually not in his best interests to play a single down of live action before he signs a big new contract. I will be completely shocked if he appears in another game for the Chargers, and risks missing out on a very big payday.
Why? Are you saying this because of the risk of a long term injury? If he strains a hamstring or turns an ankle, that won't affect his long term value.IMO teams will take it as a negative if he returns to the team but chooses not to give his best down the stretch for his team that is (hopefully) fighting to make the playoffs. Whereas on the flip side, if he does that and plays well, and the Chargers make the playoffs and especially if they win a game or two, IMO
he could get a boost above where his value already is today.
Pro football is an incredibly violent sport, and risking a serious injury when a guaranteed pay day is around the corner is illogical. Especially more so when you consider the bad blood brewing between VJ & AJ, which potentially adds 'insult to injury'. I'm sure you'ld like nothing more than to see the Chargers get a boost to what is already a very good offense by getting back their top WR. As a football fan (and one who adopted the Chargers during the Coryell era) I too would love to see Jackson playing again this season. Unfortunately, the cold realist in me just doesn't see that happening...Jackson doesn't need any boost in value, as he's already a proven commodity. In fact his value is so high that just a few weeks ago teams were willing to sign him to a multi-million dollar contract, as well as give up a 2nd round pick. I suspect the Rams, Seahawks, Redskins, Vikings, or whoever held interest in Vincent Jackson in 2010, will still feel the same way in 2011, and with the added bonus that he won't cost them ANY additional draft picks.
We also know that despite any loyalty VJ may feel to teammates, he's as good as gone already, the feud with Chargers brass has become "personal", and VJ holds AJ Smith personally responsible for costing him millions of dollars right now and a lost season of peak earnings potential. VJ and his agent have already talked about "sticking it" back to AJ by structuring base salary in the initial season of his next contract in such a way that a compensatory pick would fall from a likely 3rd, down to a 6th or 7th rounder. At this point VJ isn't going to just forgive and forget and stop resenting...
I also suspect VJ will keep his mouth shut moving forward, sign whatever he has to, and ensure the Chargers can't prevent him from a big pay day again next season. I also think he will do the smart thing by not publicly disclosing his intentions of never playing another down for the Chargers in a live game, or his strategies for avoiding being 'activated' on gamedays. Maybe he will have injuries, migraines, whatever it takes to be sure that SD doesn't activate him for any game... It doesn't matter, because in the end A FAR BIGGER NEGATIVE for VJ would be to risk tens of millions of future dollars by playing and getting injured while only getting paid somewhere between two and three hundred thousand for the last six games of 2010.