"Derrick Mason was blunt about his reasoning. As his career wanes, he wanted to play for the Jets because they provided his best chance to win the one game that's eluded him in 14 previous NFL seasons.

"I'm coming to the end of my career," Mason, who confirmed he signed a two-year deal, said. "I can still play a lot of good football, but I wanted to take every opportunity to try and win the Super Bowl and for me, this is the best place to try and do that.

"There were offers, sometimes you just have to see what outweighs, I've been going on 15 years now and funds were not No. 1 on my list so, No. 1 on my list was to win and to win quickly. There were other offers at other places but like I said, this was the best fit for me."

He arrived toward the end of practice this afternoon and hopes to join the team in workouts "ASAP."

Mason, who has been with Baltimore since 2005, said he was shocked when the Ravens released him soon after the lockout ended, but that it didn't ultimately play a factor in his decision to come to New York.

"Was I blindsided? Yeah, I was," he said. "When you're blindsided yeah, you're upset but that could be with any job where you felt you were going into a situation where you were on the cusp of something special and you never thought you would be released or fired - you would be upset."