Now a Jaguar, Thomas doesn't pay attention to Eagles business

OK, not old. He's 34, and he feels 10 years younger, he said.

He's the former left tackle, one of the best linemen the franchise has seen. His 11 seasons as an Eagle included three trips to the Pro Bowl, five trips to the NFC Championship Game and one trip to the Super Bowl. That's as fine a resume as any recent Eagles offensive lineman, and he was the anchor of a unit and a star at a position that lacked real competence for years.

Thanks to the Eagles' o-line reconfiguration plan, Thomas was allowed to walk through free agency. Now, he's fighting off a challenge from a first-round rookie in Jacksonville.

He will return to Lincoln Financial Field tonight, focused on keeping his current job, not pondering his previous one.

"I really don't pay attention to that organization," Thomas said.

He said it without malice, or even indifference. He said it as a matter of fact.

He occasionally speaks with center Jamaal Jackson, he said. He still has a house in New Jersey; he hasn't decided what to do with it yet. He has ties to this region; after acting as savior as a first-round pick in 1998 for a position at which the Eagles' luck and performance had been laughably awful, he will be fondly remembered as the man who kept Donovan McNabb whole.

At least, that's what he hopes, as he runs onto the field tonight from the visitor's locker room.

"I think it'll be a pretty warm reception. I mean, I didn't ask to leave," Thomas said. "I gave everything I had. I didn't leave on bad terms."

Not that he thinks much about that sort of thing these days.

Thomas has his hands full in Jacksonville. The Jaguars signed him to a 3-year, $8.9 million contract in March, $4.35 million loaded into this season . . . then drafted Eugene Monroe with the eighth overall pick.

Thomas and Monroe are locked in battle for the left-tackle spot. Thomas, who said yesterday he's still practicing with the starters, knows that, in the NFL, highly paid youth must be served. As such, Thomas acknowledged that he might see time at right tackle if Monroe proves himself serviceable on the left side and takes over the starting job.

If that happens, it will be just another bump in the road for a man who has learned to accept the game as it comes. Thomas started in 165 games as an Eagle. He was a horse; he played in 166 of 176. He wants to play eight more seasons, he said.

But the Eagles weren't willing to commit the sort of money Thomas desired . . . and, now, it turns out, they have a line full of hobbling question marks.

"I guess that's what they wanted to do," Thomas said. "Juan Castillo is a great line coach. He'll work things out."

Perhaps.

It's just that, for the first time in more than a decade, Thomas won't be part of it.