For Brandon Jacobs, it was never about the money. It was about winning.

“I want to win. It’s not about money and everything else,” said Jacobs, who restructured his contract so that the Giants could re-sign several key players, including his close friend, Ahmad Bradshaw, who inked a four-year, $18 million contract. “I want to be able to get out and win games ‘cause at the end of the day you could be rich as you want to be and not win any games. That doesn’t help you out. You’ll just be an unsuccessful former player with a lot of money.”

Jacobs said the Giants were very “fair to him” during the process, and noted that they “wanted him back.” Jacobs told ESPNNewYork.com back in March that he'd be open to the idea of taking a paycut as long as it wasn't an astronomical amount.

“(Ahmad) was gonna want to be compensated for his work,” said Jacobs, who was supposed to be due $4.65 million in base salary prior to his restructure. “I said down at ESPN the weekend that I’d be willing to do it because I want to win.”

Jacobs said Bradshaw doesn’t owe him anything for restructuring his deal, but if Bradshaw wants, Jacobs jokingly said he’d be “willing to discuss something with him.”

Jacobs said he could handle the entire running load for the Giants, but pointed out that the NFL is a two-back league.

“The way this league works, you gotta have two backs, two healthy backs, in order to win,” Jacobs said. “It doesn’t matter who’s out there first. It doesn’t bother me. I just wanna win.”

Jacobs finished last season with 823 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on 147 carries, but hopes to see those numbers increase in 2011, possibly to 1,000 yards and 200 carries.

He said he is healthy and has no knee issues.

“I feel like my one-year-old (son) Quinn,” Jacobs said. “I’m healthy. I feel really good. I didn’t beat on myself. I worked out and I worked hard. I feel faster.”