Adam “Pacman” Jones, who was recently cut loose by Dallas, is the NFL’s most notorious third rail.

Despite making a splash his first two years in Tennessee as a cornerback and return specialist, he’s got a checkered past with multiple arrests. Before a trade to the Cowboys last year, he was arrested six times and involved in 12 instances requiring police intervention after Tennessee drafted him in the first round in 2005. He was released last month by Dallas.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick needs cornerbacks, and has a track record with players who have a bad reputation — in the past, he’s managed to work Corey Dillon and Randy Moss into the mix without skipping a beat. The infrastructure Belichick has worked so hard to build in the New England locker room has made it possible to take a chance on guys like Dillon or Moss.

So could a marriage between Belichick and Jones work?

Mike Lombardi doesn’t think so. Lombardi believes no matter how much the Patriots’ need to build depth in the secondary, they’re going to stay away from adding Jones. But it’s not because Belichick would have any reservations about his toxic history. Instead, it’s because Jones simply can’t play anymore.

“He would never touch Pacman,” said Lombardi, who worked for several years with Belichick before starting the National Football Post. “Pacman can’t play. At all. He stinks.”

The numbers as of late would certainly bear that out. After two relatively successful years with the Titans, the 25-year-old Jones was out of the game for a season before returning to play with the Cowboys last season. Setting aside his off-field issues — which have included numerous arrests, as well as a six-game suspension for an incident involving his bodyguard last year — he was a colossal disappointment in Dallas. Across the board, his numbers were way down: Jones finished the year with 33 tackles and had one forced fumble and recovery and no interceptions. He also averaged just 4.5 yards per punt return.

According to some, that’s the least of his problems. He’s alienated plenty of people in the league, including former Titans’ GM Floyd Reese. Reese, who was hired this past offseason by the Patriots as a senior football advisor, told The Tennessean he regretted taking Jones with the sixth overall pick in the 2005 Draft.

”The way it’s turned out, I wish we’d have picked (Antrel) Rolle,” Reese told the paper. ”But I think if you would have asked right after the draft or a year or two later, I think everybody would have said we made what we thought at that point in time was a good decision. It just didn’t turn out so well.”

“From what I heard and saw in Tennessee, Jones can barely understand a playbook,” said Mike Tanier of Footballoutsiders.com. “He’s often out of position, and sometimes totally misreads plays or misplays his receiver. He gets away with it because he is so talented, and because past coordinators were comfortable just putting him in man coverage with no other responsibilities — I’ve heard stories of Jones getting special instructions, like, ‘Just cover number 81,’ so he understands his role.

“Belichick will tolerate a head case, and he’ll take a chance on a smart-but-washed up guy like Otis Smith or Fernando Bryant, but I don’t think he can stomach a player who gets lost when he’s supposed to cover a zone.”

But not everyone feels that way. Fox Sports analyst Brian Baldinger, who also breaks down coaches’ film for the NFL Network show “Playbook,” believes Jones could be a big asset to the Patriots. Baldinger acknowledges that Jones brings his share of baggage, but believes it could work if New England signed him.

“I think, first of all, when Bill Belichick turns on the game film from the second half of the 2006 season, he’ll see the best cornerback in football,” Baldinger said of Jones, who had four interceptions in the second half of the 2006 season alone. “There was not a better corner with better ball skills in 2006 than Pacman. He’s a knucklehead, there’s no doubt about it. He’s less mature than Corey Dillon or Randy Moss before they came to the Patriots. But I do think it could work.

Baldinger says that if Belichick was interested in acquiring Jones, his first call would be to Jim Schwartz. Belichick and Schwartz worked together in Cleveland, and Schwartz was the defensive coordinator for Tennessee when Jones was there in 2005 and 2006. (Schwartz was recently named the new head coach of the Detroit Lions.) In much the same way Belichick has asked former assistants about the skill level of potential draftees, he follow the same route with Jones.

“I think Belichick would be crazy not to at least think about it,” he said. “Just put everything into the contract, load it with incentives. If it doesn’t work, there’s no salary cap ramifications for the Patriots. If you do that, and he knows it might be his last chance, then I would sign him. You don’t have anything to lose.”

Baldinger believers there were several things holding Jones back in Dallas. First, the defensive scheme was ill-suited to his skill set. Second, the circus atmosphere around the Cowboys created a bad work environment, and allowed him to lose focus. And third, his lack of playing time — thanks to the in-season suspension, acknowledged Baldinger — cut into his ability.

Get him in New England, working with Belichick, and Baldinger believes the Patriots could really have something.

“Last year, there were signs he could regain that form,” Baldinger said. “Even after missing all those games, he still lead the Cowboys in passes defensed. Last year, he was out of shape — and the only way you can get into shape is by playing every day, and he didn’t have that opportunity with the suspension. There was a lot of rust on him last year.

“But I think the way Bill teaches and coaches, with his ability, they’d be getting a really good player.”
Christopher Price covers the Patriots for WEEI.com.