ALLEN PARK - Jon Jansen and his wife, Martha, stumbled across some long-forgoten memories while packing boxes for their move back to Michigan after the Washington Redskins released him earlier this spring.

The discoveries? A photo of Jansen and his linemates from his first season as a Redskin. A rookie trading card, where he was pictured in his Michigan uniform. And a fan portrait of the hulking right tackle alongside two other former Michigan linemen, President Gerald Ford and Hall-of-Famer Dan Dierdorf.

“It’s been a fun journey,” Jansen said. “As any journey, it’s got its ups and downs, it’s got its pitfalls, it’s got its great times.

“My wife and I, especially now that there’s been this big transition of being cut and moving and all that stuff, we’re going through a lot of our personal items and seeing pictures of what we were like as rookies and four- and five-year players. You see some older games, and it’s just, it’s been a tough journey. And I would never tell anybody it was ever easy, but, God, it was fun every part of the way.”

Now in the twilight of a distinguished career, Jansen signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Lions this off-season and will compete for playing time at guard and tackle this fall.

He played in 126 games with 123 starts in his first 10 seasons with the Redskins, but injuries - he tore an Achilles’ tendon in 2004, broke both thumbs in 2005, tore a calf muscle in 2006 and broke his fibula and dislocated an ankle in 2007 - and several free-agent moves made Jansen expendable this off-season.

When Redskins owner Daniel Snyder told him of his release in May, Jansen immediately called his agent and asked to work out a deal with the Lions. Two hours later, with Jansen still on Snyder’s private plan back to Michigan, a contract was done.

“My whole life has been built around Detroit and in the state of Michigan,” said Jansen, a Clawson native who kept an off-season home in Petoskey when he was with the Redskins. “I’ve got a good base of people that support me, and to be able to play in front of them was special. “I would have loved to have come here (coming out of college). It would have been great for me, but it didn’t work out at that time. I’m just happy that I get to play part of my career here.” How much Jansen plays remains to be seen. Jeff Backus, his Michigan teammate for two years, has started 128 straight games at left tackle for the Lions, and right tackle Gosder Cherilus was a first-round pick a season ago. At guard, Stephen Peterman and free-agent signee Daniel Loper are penciled in as starters. Still, Jansen said he’s “hoping to play in Detroit another 10 years” and has a minimum “five or six” seasons left in his rebuilt body before he turns to a post-playing career in broadcasting. “I’m going to play this game as long as I can,” Jansen said. “It’s too much fun. “When you retire and you lose the physical aspect of football, you can’t get that back. I can’t go play pick-up basketball and have as much contact and fun as I have out here. You just can’t, so it’s one of those things where you got to get your fill of it now cause when it’s done, it’s done.” As for Michigan, Jansen, a captain on the Wolverines 1997 national championship team, called last year’s 3-9 season “frustrating” and “disappointing.” Still, he’s optimistic second-year coach Rich Rodriguez can turn things around. “Anybody that Michigan hires as a head coach deserves a certain amount of respect, and at that point they’ve got to earn some more, and he’s in the process of earning all that respect,” Jansen said. “It’s all about winning. If he goes out this year and wins nine, 10 games, everybody’s going to say this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and they’ll forget about last year. So if he just goes out and wins some ballgames, everything will take care of itself.”