FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — 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.