NFL

Lineman Woody wants to return to Jets as starter

Damien Woody dreaded this offseason more than any in his 12-year NFL career.

He’s 33. He’s rehabbing after rupturing his Achilles tendon during last season’s playoffs. And he’s unemployed.

Woody, the Jets’ starting right tackle the last three years before being released in February, has been diligently rehabbing the injury at a New Jersey workout facility, getting up early in the morning — “rise and grind,” as he often tweets — about four days a week.

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Here’s the peculiar rub to Woody’s road to recovery, though: He’s not exactly sure what the end game is to his rehab.

Complicating matters further, Woody was facing these life challenges amidst the murky uncertainly of the NFL lockout. Little did Woody know as he embarked on the offseason uncertainty, though, is that the lockout would actually clarify things for him.

Instead of succumbing to the insecurity of not knowing whether he’ll have a team to play for in 2011, Woody has found comfort at home with his wife and six children.

He’s the antithesis of the athlete in the latter stage of his career desperate to hang on to the limelight of being a professional athlete, unsure what he’ll do with his Sundays once there are no games to play.

Relaxing over coffee with The Post at the local Starbucks in his New Jersey neighborhood, Woody spoke like a man excited about his future — as undefined as it may be.

First and foremost, he still wants to play.

But the Jets want Vladimir Ducasse, their 2010 second-round draft pick, to take over at right tackle. Significant questions, however, remain about whether Ducasse is ready, particularly after having had no offseason minicamps to help him prepare.

That puts Woody in the unique position as a possible beneficiary of the lockout should the Jets not trust that Ducasse is ready and opt to re-sign Woody as insurance.

Woody, though, doesn’t want to be a roster body playing for the veteran minimum. He’s either all in or he’s out.

“I’ve thought about all of those things this offseason,” Woody said. “This has been the most agonizing offseason I’ve ever been through. It’s been tough from a rehab standpoint, because I’d never had a major injury in my career. But it’s also been about weighing . . . should I play . . . should I go in this direction or that direction?”

Woody, who won two Super Bowl rings with the Patriots and made the Pro Bowl in 2002, can go in multiple directions and said he doesn’t need football. He’s not afraid to walk away and start anew. He has done some TV work with ESPN and is good at it, so that is a looming career option for him.

“I’m in a win-win situation,” Woody said. “The lockout has allowed a lot of veteran guys to sit back and think about exactly what they want to do. For me it’s been about spending more time with my family. I’ve spent more time with my family this offseason than I have in years. . . . I mean years
.”

Woody is familiar with the Bill Parcells adage: “As soon as a player is thinking about retiring, he’s already retired.”

“With football you have to be 100 percent in it, 100-percent invested in it,” he said. “If you’re not, it doesn’t make sense to go on with it. For me, if I’m not 100-percent in it, I’m not going to go out there and get embarrassed. I don’t need to do that.

“I’d be lying if I said I’m 100 percent right now. Football is a young man’s game. There’s just a lot for me to think about right now.”

mcannizzaro@nypost.com