Update at 1:21 p.m.: Let's go ahead and shift it down to Defcon 3 or so regarding Jones retirement talk. First, I talked to a player who said he had texted (is that a verb now? I think it is) Jones earlier this week. When I asked so is he messing around on Twitter? I was told in no uncertain terms to act my age and get off Twitter, get off Facebook, get off MySpace. It was a pretty funny joke.

Second, if there is any formal conclusion on Jones' future, it wouldn't come until before the draft. There's no reason to think an announcement could be coming.

Third, let's remember back to before when Jones made a couple of comments that got people think something was up with his future. On Sept. 11, he said he had a very hard decision he was facing, and in a series of four posts talked about how hard the decision would be, how he might need some help and then that his decision was going to be to go see a Tyler Perry movie.

A preliminary caution: Nowhere has Walter Jones indicated he's walking away. No one with the team has indicated that has happened, however, there are a series of posts from Walter Jones that point to the idea that he might not be long for football.

Walter Jones, the Seahawks Pro Bowl tackle who did not play this year as he failed to recover from knee surgery, has hinted via his Twitter account that his NFL career may be at an end.

Here are two posts made within the past 20 minutes:

"I think I have had a great run at this thing the NFL and seahawks and the fans hve (sic) been great to me."      -- Walter Jones, via Twitter at 11:58 a.m. PST

"There is no easy way to give something that you have been doing for s (sic) long time."      -- Walter Jones, via Twitter at 12:17 p.m. PST

Jones has not been here for the past few months. He was placed on injured reserve at the end of November after missing the first six games.

Update: If he plans to walk away, it's news to the Seahawks right now. He hasn't been around recently, instead he has been in Florida rehabilitating.

Jones underwent microfracture surgery last year on his left knee. He rehabilitated in time to be ready for training camp, but suffered back spasms beginning the third day of practice. He returned after missing more than a week, but subsequently experienced pain in his left knee and underwent arthroscopic surgery. He missed the season opener, but resumed limited practice midway through September. His knee remained sore, a condition complicated by the fact that he has a medical condition that does not allow him to take most anti-inflammatory medication. He took four weeks off, but that did not ease the pain in his knee after the team's bye on Oct. 25. He was placed on injured reserve Oct. 28, but said that day he intended to rehabilitate himself and return to play next season.

Messages to Jones agents have not been returned so far.