Vinny Likely To End Career Randy Lange Bergen Record 2/27/04 That sound you just heard was the door slamming on Vinny Testaverde's Jets' and NFL career ... with still the tiniest crack left open, in case Vinny T alters his plans down the road. "I have informed Terry Bradway and Herman Edwards I will not be participating in the off-season program," the quarterback said in a statement released by the club late Thursday. "I am considering, unless something changes, bringing an end to my professional playing career." Bradway, the general manager who stated at the end of the Jets' 6-10 season that Testaverde "will be back and he'll be our backup quarterback," did not comment. Edwards, who at the same news conference said, "We expect Vinny to come back," struck a different tone in the statement. "At this point of his career, we recognize his desire to reevaluate his future," Edwards said. "We support any decision he decides to make." Apparently, that would exclude deciding to return as the Jets' No. 2 QB behind Chad Pennington. Talks have taken place with the quarterback and his longtime agent, Mike Azzarelli, during which the Jets are believed to have made clear that Testaverde could come back only with a pay cut and with the idea that he would be the third QB behind second-year man Brooks Bollinger. Testaverde, 40, had said at the end of the season he believed he would return for his seventh Jets season and 18th in the NFL. "But they may already have their scenario for next year," he said. "If it's one I disagree with, I wouldn't want to do that." Thursday's statements seem crafted so that Testaverde can explore any NFL interest in him as a No. 2 - perhaps back with Bill Parcells at Dallas or with Dan Henning, his former offensive coordinator, at Carolina. Interest or not, he would delay any announcement on his future until after June 1, which would defer $4 million under the Jets' salary cap from the coming season to the following season. Azzarelli even said: "Is there a chance Vinny could be back with the Jets in 2004? Yes, there is." But that probably depends on Bollinger's health and Bollinger's readiness to beat out a suitable contender from an uninspiring free agent talent pool or CFL quarterback Ricky Ray, who worked out with the team two weeks ago. As for now, Testaverde's days under contract to the Jets, whom he led to within a game of Super Bowl XXXIII and for whom he's thrown for much of his 40,943 career yards, appear numbered. "If it's definitely happening, it's sad for me to see him go," cornerback Ray Mickens said. "He's been playing football since I was a kid, and all these guys coming in now probably weren't even born when he was playing at Miami. I think he's going out on a high note."