MVN - Most Valuable Network

Jaguars 2008: wide open wide receiver battle begins

With the NFL regular season barely four months away, the Jacksonville Jaguars will return to the practice field today for the first time since January to begin preparation for the 2008 season.  Already being touted as one of the top tier teams in the league, the Jaguars have high expectations entering this season.  There are still lingering questions that need to be addressed, and position battles to be won.

As the Jaguars prepare for the upcoming campaign, this is the time to identify those areas where the competition will be most heated, with the positions up for grabs.  Each year, there are several battles that warrant consideration.  The Jaguars roster was not too far from championship caliber when the 2007 season concluded, so the assumption would be that those position battles would be minimized.  However, that is not the case. Several spots are up for grabs, including the cornerback positions, strong safety, defensive ends, and defensive tackle.  However, one of the most maligned spots for the roster over the past several years, and one of the most heated battles this off season, will be the wide receiver spots.

Over the next several installments, we will look at the areas that will be the focal point of attention during most of this off season.  For this edition, it is all about the battle at the wide receiving position.

This spot has been one of the most widely scrutinized areas during the entire Jack Del Rio tenure as head coach.  In fact, it has been an area of heavy attention going back to the Tom Coughlin era as the team searched for that elusive third receiver to compliment Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell. 

In 2008, the Jaguars have said goodbye to the reliable possession receiver, Ernest Wilford, who signed a free agent contract to play with the Miami Dolphins this year.  They have also released practice squad dweller, Charles Sharon.  The transition from bigger, slower possession receivers to more elusive downfield threats began last year with the drafting of Mike Walker and John Broussard.  Both players return to the practice field for the first time since going on the Injured Reserve list in 2007.  Walker will continue to rehabilitate until training camp, but Broussard should be ready to participate for Organized Team Activities and Mini-camp.

New for 2008, the Jaguars have added Troy Williamson and Jerry Porter.

Williamson was a first round disappointment in Minnesota, never quite living up to the expectations that come with the pedigree of the draft position.  Whether it was off-field scandals, or coaching staff shake-ups, or major changes at quarterback, Williamson never was able to establish himself for the Vikings.  The value of the trade could be significantly enhanced if Williamson takes the change of scenery as an opportunity to shake off the label of bust, and becomes a more reliable deep threat.  The knock on the speed receiver has been his lack of consistency in catching the football since coming into the league.  The hope is that this was more about the lack of stability, or the quality of the quarterbacks throwing in his direction, and that landing on an offense that has a more stable core will help his career to flourish.  If not, the cost to acquire him was minimal.

Jerry Porter suffered a similar fate in Oakland, playing behind two hall of fame players in Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, then having to relinquish his position to Randy Moss.  His disenchantment made headlines as his antics were well documented in Oakland.  The sense that he was a locker room cancer prevailed, and Oakland was prepared to move on without him after the 2007 season. 

The Jaguars felt confident that his attitude problems were tied more to the lack of commitment by the Raiders organization as a whole, and his personal frustration after not being able to assume the role that he felt he was brought in to fill.  Again, a change of scenery should do Porter some good. 

Porter was never allowed to be “the man” in Oakland.  He was signed by the Jaguars to be precisely that in Jacksonville.  His combination of speed, route running ability, and ball skills should allow him to step into that role with ease.  His conduct since signing with the Jaguars has been nothing short of exemplary, but the honeymoon will only last for so long.  It will be imperative that he develops the necessary chemistry with newly extended quarterback, David Garrard.  The more cohesive that tandem becomes, the better it will be for the team as a whole.

Roster fixtures, Reggie Williams, Matt Jones, and Dennis Northcutt will be thrown into the mix to compete for the five or six roster spots that will be allocated for the position along with Williamson, Walker, and Broussard.  The only player that has a lock on a position at this point is Jerry Porter. 

Some would argue that Northcutt, by virtue of his contract, would also be relatively secure in his role for this team.  That seems to be the case right now, but things could certainly change quickly if another receiver starts to rise to the top from the group.  Northcutt offers the team versatility.  He was signed to be the slot receiver for the Jaguars, but more importantly, to bring some stability and explosiveness to the punt return game.  Despite having a few high-profile drops in 2007, Northcutt was one of the more consistent receivers on the roster, coming through at clutch times for the team.  His veteran presence offered stability to a roster full of young receivers in 2007. 

It would seem to be a no-brainer that Reggie Williams is a lock for the roster as well.  His franchise best ten touchdowns in 2007 certainly silenced many of the critics that have been most vocal about the fact that he is a first round disappointment.  While his yardage totals were barely better than pedestrian, the touchdown total did give Williams somewhat of a reprieve.  His blocking ability over the past two seasons has been a tremendous asset to the offense.  His improved route running abilities combined with his tenacious demeanor paired together to make him very much a fan favorite in 2007. 

The likelihood of Williams playing in a different uniform in 2008 seems almost impossible based on the amount of improvement that has been seen.  Clearly, his coaches recognize the effort.  Todd Monken and Jack Del Rio have both gone on record saying that he is the hardest working player on the roster.  If his improvement continues in 2008, the Jaguars will be faced with having to decide just what he is worth to this franchise as this is his contract year.

Matt Jones has shown flashes of brilliance, and long stretches of disappointment.  As one of the most naturally gifted athletes on the roster, his ability cannot be questioned.  Unfortunately, his desire can be.  For every outstanding play that Jones pulled off in 2007, there were others that offset it by virtue of a lack of effort on his part.  Jones showed that he is more than capable of being the player that the team hoped he would be when they gambled and drafted the converted quarterback in 2005.  Unfortunately, the level of high caliber play may be too little, too late for Jones here in Jacksonville. 

Unlike his teammate, Reggie Williams, Matt Jones has not been lauded for his work ethic by his coaches.  In fact, it has been quite the opposite.  Jones has been criticized openly by his coaches, and by his teammates as well for not showing enough effort both during games and practices.  During training camp in 2007, Todd Monken was constantly pushing Jones for more, but was clearly not seeing what he had hoped from the highly touted athlete.  During interviews this off season, Monken made it clear that Jones was in complete control of his own fate, and that his career would flourish or flounder based on his own determination.  We saw some signs of life from Matt toward the end of the 2007 season.  But, that came after Jones was deactivated for several games for various issues that remain undocumented.

If Matt Jones finds the necessary inspiration to step up his game, it will instantly turn the competition at wide receiver into an outright battle.  Jones could find himself lining up outside, putting the slot receiver position squarely in the crosshairs as a battle between Reggie Williams and Dennis Northcutt.  If Jones does not step up and show that he is ready to fight for his career, the slot becomes a rotation with Northcutt, Williams, and Broussard, with Williams, Williamson, and Walker rotating on the outside opposite Porter.

The big question marks among the wide receivers remains Mike Walker and John Broussard.  Initially, after seeing Broussard for the first time during mini-camp last season, I expressed both how impressive he was, and how concerned I was.  There is no arguing about his speed or his ball skills.  The only concern was that his slight stature might bring into account durability issues at the NFL level.  This was proven to be a valid concern as Broussard made a brilliant play in the opening game of the 2007 season against the Titans, only to suffer an injury on that very play that kept him inactive for most of the season until he sustained another injury late in the year that landed him on the IR.  He clearly is a talented receiver, but his size is a worry.  With an entire off season in the conditioning program, the hope is that he will improve his durability.  If he does, then the waters become even murkier for the competition.

Mike Walker showed outstanding route running and ball skills in training camp in 2007.  Unfortunately, he was still trying to battle back from a knee injury that required reconstructive surgery while he was playing at the University of Central Florida.  Still, with a lingering knee issue, Walker was still able to show impressive abilities during training camp.  Unfortunately, his knee was not fully recovered, and the swelling and soreness that accompanied that put him on the IR.  Subsequent cleanup surgery was performed, and Walker is on pace to be back at 100% in time for training camp.  If he has fully recovered, he will be the player to watch in the receiving battle.  His combination of speed, route running, and ball skills was unmatched as a package last year.  If he rebounds from the knee injury, he will almost certainly be in the mix for one of the top five or six spots on the roster.

The Jaguars have been a franchise in recent years that always struggled from a lack of true talent at the wide receiver position.  This was always used as a line item for why the offense sputtered and struggled in years past.  We started to see signs of the offense turning the corner in 2007 as Reggie Williams found his niche, and Dennis Northcutt provided some stability.  For 2008, the hope is that the progression will continue, and allow the team to take that next step offensively.  For the team to get to the next level, having a passing attack that commands attention from the opposition will be key in allowing the signature running game to continue to thrive.  The Jaguars made moves this off season to assure that the offense would continue to improve.  All that is needed is a little chemistry at this point.

The only certainty about the wide receiving corps at this point is that the battle is wide open.  With only a handful of roster spots up for grabs, the team that was so lacking for talent in previous years suddenly appears to have a bevy of it.  In the end, some difficult decisions could be looming for this coaching staff.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 7:30 am and is filed under Jaguars' Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.