Basically, Chad Pennington's decision came down to this: Swallow a $6 million pay cut to remain with the Jets or join hundreds of other NFL players on the unemployment line, a cold place for a quarterback with a twice-repaired throwing shoulder. So he swallowed. Hard. "I want to be on the field, and the Jets give me the best chance to be on the field," Pennington said last night on a conference call to announce his restructured contract. Pennington, scheduled to make $9 million in 2006, agreed to a whopping 66% pay cut. He forfeited his $3 million roster bonus, due on the first day of the league year (now pushed back to Thursday), and lowered his base salary from $6 million to $3 million, the figure reported last week in the Daily News.