Wide Receivers: The rest of the pack:

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 12:11 PM EST

While scouring the internet this AM in an attempt to quench my insatiable football thirst I came upon a pretty well written and detailed article (written by Evan Silva over at rotoworld.com) projecting where many of the current free agent WRs will go this upcoming season. While I may not agree with Mr. Silva as far as the player's final landing spots it's most definitely worth reading. He makes some valid points that will help answer the question of who are the FA WRs available when you get out of the top five/six?

Seeing that the Jaguars have had a pretty well documented past of poor performing free agent acquisitions I think it's an understatement to say we have to hit on our WRs this off season. (you can add Aaron Kampman, Matt Turk, Jason Spitz to that list also)

I'm sure we all know about Vincent Jackson, Brandon Lloyd, Marques Colston, Steve Johnson, Reggie Wayne, Mario Manningham, and Robert Meachem (on a smaller scale) by now. But who's next? These 'gems' will likely be signed by someone; I'd assume at least one in Jax next year....

Laurent Robinson, Cowboys

Scouting Report: A lean, long-armed wideout with 4.38 wheels coming out of Illinois State, Robinson appeared poised for an impressive career after catching 37 passes for 437 yards in only six starts as a rookie. Injuries and inconsistency plagued Robinson for the next three years, but he rehabbed his stock with career highs in receptions (54), yards (858), and touchdowns (11) in Dallas last season. Robinson abused single coverage while Dez Bryant, Miles Austin, and Jason Witten drew the vast majority of defense's attention. While Robinson has some good-looking tools, the sudden breakout as a fifth-year player is concerning. He's been incredibly brittle, and Robinson's track record inspires no confidence that he wouldn’t be a free agent bust.

Braylon Edwards, 49ers

Scouting Report: When healthy, Edwards is a smooth deep threat with a knack for creating separation downfield. He is 6-foot-3, 214 and ran 4.45 coming out of Michigan. Edwards is also an underrated run blocker. Off-field issues crushed his 2011 market value, however, and medical woes may do the same this spring. Edwards pleaded guilty to DUI in 2010 and was fined for violating the league's substance abuse policy in September. Another infraction could result in suspension. Edwards tore his right meniscus in Week 2 with the 49ers and missed the next five weeks. He separated his right shoulder almost immediately after returning and was completely ineffective down the stretch. Edwards was cut on December 27. No team put in a waiver claim. He will likely be available for the veteran minimum this season.

Other Wide Receiver Free Agents:

Ted Ginn, Roscoe Parrish, Eddie Royal

Plaxico Burress, Harry Douglas, Legedu Naanee, Deion Branch, Patrick Crayton.

To the angst of many BCC members, I'm actually a fan of Robinson and I'm absolutely in favor of signing a Parrish or Ginn-like kick return/punt return specialist. Neither Parish or Ginn will get the job done as a playmaker at WR, but they would likely sign under the Kassim Ossgood premise of being given the opportunity to do more at WR.

Harry Douglas, Patrick Crayton, and Burress offer much more intrigue. A few BBC'ers have already mentioned that it's likely we sign Douglas due to his ATL past and I agree.

The below section, I believe is the most curious part of the article though...

Wide Receiver Release Candidates

Chad Ochocinco, Patriots

Overview: Acquired last July for a 2012 fifth-round pick and sixth-rounder in 2013, Ochocinco was painfully slow to pick up the Patriots' offense and failed to capitalize on increased playing time when Aaron Hernandez missed two early-season games with a knee injury. As of mid-October, teammates were still telling Ochocinco where to line up for certain offensive plays. Ocho fell behind Tiquan Underwood and Julian Edelman on the depth chart in December, and finished the regular season with 276 yards on 15 receptions in 15 appearances. He was a healthy scratch for the AFC Championship Game. At age 34, Ochocinco's separation skills have declined sharply and he is mentally unreliable. Ochocinco is due $4.6 million in 2012 salary and bonuses.

Lee Evans, Ravens

Overview: Attempting to address their need for perimeter speed, the Ravens sent a 2012 fourth-round pick to Buffalo in exchange for Evans on August 12. After racking up 128 yards and a touchdown on six catches in two preseason games, Evans suffered a high left ankle sprain and was totally ineffective while attempting to play through the injury in September. The Ravens shut Evans down for all of October and most of November. He returned for the stretch run but could not get open, finishing the regular season with four catches for 74 yards in nine games (two starts). In the AFC Championship Game, Evans had a critical would-be touchdown catch stripped from his hands by Patriots CB Sterling Moore. Now 31, Evans is due a $1 million roster bonus on March 18 in addition to a $3.275 million base salary. His cap number is $5.61 million.

Hines Ward, Steelers

Overview: Ward was listed as a "starter" in eight of the Steelers' 2011 regular season gamebooks, but five of his starts occurred in the first five games and he was demoted to fifth receiver at midseason, falling behind Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Jerricho Cotchery, and Emmanuel Sanders. Ward averaged 14 snaps played in Pittsburgh's final nine games, including the playoffs. His 8.3 yards-per-reception average was easily a career low, and Ward's 381 receiving yards were his fewest since 1998, Ward's rookie season. Turning 36 in March, Ward has deteriorated into a slow-moving slot receiver who struggles mightily to get open and is easily taken out of plays by physical press coverage. In late January, Ward underwent surgery to remove loose bone fragments from his right ankle. He has a $4 million base salary for 2012.

Depending on what we do in the draft and free agency, we may not need to be concerned with the second group of names. Though, I honestly would not be against us picking up Evans for a low to moderate contract...and we all have to admit that Senor' Ocho in Duval would be just hilarious to watch... But I digress, since that likely won't happen (but I'd pay Khan a dollar to make it a reality).

With the Jaguars likely drafting from the pack of:

Justin Blackmon, Kendall Wright, or TY Hilton.
Signing Harry Douglas (or another tier 2 wide receiver - Robinson, Crayton, Manningham-as Alfie mentions here, he's most definitely a #2).
All we'd be missing is one big time #1 receiver (Johnson, Coltson, Jackson) to have a completely rounded passing threat.

You can read the rest of the article here.

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THIS ARTICLE

This article is a joke, they have almost all recievers being signed by the patriots, or by their own current clubs, and while I agree that many will resign with their current team, this thing of the patriots getting so many recievers off free agency, is just crazy, it looks like Silva is a patriots fan,and he is just wishfull thinking

by zunklives on Feb 22, 2012 12:29 PM EST reply actions

AND

Not a mention of one reciever in FA they think will go to jacksonville, but they have V-jax going to the bucs?

by zunklives on Feb 22, 2012 12:31 PM EST up reply actions

If you take the information given and use it for the purpose given in THIS post it serves a pretty good purpose...why I prefaced...

While I may not agree with Mr. Silva as far as the player’s final landing spots it’s most definitely worth reading. He makes some valid points that will help answer the question of who are the FA WRs available when you get out of the top five/six

"Sad fact about our generation: Most ppl would rather hear "you look good" than "you are good". We spend thousands a year on cars, clothes, & cosmetics; Forget that. I can give you a Bible for free. Save money, save your soul. Get right with the Savior, Jesus Christ."- Travis D. Holmes

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 12:37 PM EST up reply actions

not that I like defending rotoworld articles,..

but the guy only has Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd signing with the Patriots, and Welker through a franchise tag.. so what are you talking about?

by SexonvilleShaguars on Feb 22, 2012 2:06 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Lol +1

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 2:35 PM EST up reply actions

"Seeing that the Jaguars have had a pretty well documented past of poor performing free agent acquisitions"

Sure did under our previous regime. How you add Kampman and Spitz to that list is beyond my understanding. Kampman didn’t suffer from poor performance and Spitz was brought in to provide depth which we ended up not needing (which is a good thing). Turk is the only bad FA acquisiion Gene has had so far and he was a freakin’ punter. Again, a punter.

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 12:35 PM EST reply actions

It's a business of performance. Did I call him (Kampman) a bust? I used the term "poor performing" for a reason.

If he was paid a lot of money and for whatever reason (injury, marital problems, suspension, etc) didn’t perform that’s a waste of money. That’s a poor performing acquisition however we try to cut it.

We added Spitz for the specific purpose. Depth. He wasn’t able to even serve that purpose. It wasn’t that we didn’t NEED the depth (because our 2011 season just evidenced that we surely did). It was that he didn’t adequately provide it for his cost. #JustMyTwoCents

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 12:41 PM EST up reply actions

I disagree on Kampman

Injuries are beyond control. He was a force before he got hurt again and theres no reason to suspect he would not have continued to be if not for the injury.

I get that he didn’t perform to his contract but that wasn’t because he underperformed. He got hurt. I would not classify that with the Jerry Porter type acquisitions.

by kungfuman104 on Feb 22, 2012 12:52 PM EST up reply actions

It doesn't matter

We signed Kampman to a 4 year, 25 million dollar contract with 10 million guaranteed. Hes been active in only 11 out of 32 games since his arrival registering 4 sacks. It doesn’t matter whether he under-performed on the field or went down with injury, he was a poor acquisition given how things turned out. And remember its not like injuries were an uncommon thing for Kampman prior to his signing with the Jaguars. He was already coming of an ACL injury so the Jaguars were taking a risk on a player with a previous serious injury. He’s a great guy and leader but based on his performance on the field, no matter the reason, he is a bust for the Jaguars.

"I don't know what we're yelling about. "

by kterr on Feb 22, 2012 1:48 PM EST up reply actions

i agree he(Kampman) is a bust on the field

but I believe he plays a huge role off the field, in coaching the younger guys and being a leader.

by SexonvilleShaguars on Feb 22, 2012 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

Can we move his salary off the cap and add it to the $5 million Del Rio was paid?

If not, then I don’t care for the off the field coaching of younger players. That’s what coaches are paid to do. And I don’t know any coach you’re going to pay $15 million dollars a year to coach lol (our combined payments to our coach and Kampman).

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 2:20 PM EST up reply actions

Yep

Injuries absolutely factor into this. It’s a binary question – was he on the field yes or no? If answer is no then all the talent/ potential / or whatever accounts for exactly ZERO.

by OGN on Feb 22, 2012 6:28 PM EST up reply actions

"It was that he didn’t adequately provide it for his cost."

What did he cost? A late round draft pick if I’m not mistaken. I said we didn’t end up needing the depth because injuries never struck for him to have to play. And how exactly is it that you think he could’ve made up for the cost to acquire him if he never got the chance to play in the first place?

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 1:09 PM EST up reply actions

Ummmm, he cost a draft pick and 1.5 million dollars?

which is a draft pick plus $300K HIGHER than the amount Jarred Dillard is set to make in 2012, which may get Dillard cut.

If he was signed for depth at guard and center then where is the depth? The fact that Rackley had the season that he had yet Spitz couldn’t pass him up says enough to me. He led the team in penalties while also allowing the most sacks from our interior line. If Spitz were truly “worth signing” wouldn’t he have been able to pass up a third round rookie who commits many penalties and gives up a good number of sacks? If anything Spitz should have been able to hold the fort for a year while Rackley got his feet wet…Is that asking to much?

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 1:27 PM EST up reply actions

Spitz was battling a quad injury for a good portion of the season, if I remember correctly.

We got bit hard by the injury bug this year.

by mab0270 on Feb 22, 2012 3:12 PM EST up reply actions

He was only hurt from weeks 3-7. He was fine after that. That's 11 remaining games in which he could have played but didn't. Maybe I'm being harsh on him, maybe not. I mean a rookie with no OTAs or offseason just beat out a veteran with NFL experience.

Source here

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 3:55 PM EST up reply actions

"If he was signed for depth at guard and center then where is the depth?"

Is that a rhetorical question? The depth was provided when he was on the bench, suited up, ready just in case someone went down. Using Rackley as an example is a bad one because it had to be obvious to everyone how Rackley kept getting better. So why pull him? You speak on Rackley leading the interior linemen in sacks to pad your argument because the other two interior lineman are very good veterans, so one would think they would give up less sacks. Also, your interpretation of how many penalties he committed and sacks he allowed is being vastly overexaggerated. If I remember correctly, in the article kterr wrote, he gave up 7 sacks in 14 games, which isn’t as many as you’re saying. Lastly, you say Spitz should’ve been able to hold the fort while Rackley got his feet wet. But how was he supposed to do that if he wasn’t getting any game exposure? Gene invested a lot in Rackley by spending a third round pick on him, so it was good he got as much experience as he did.

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 4:31 PM EST up reply actions

Great job.

You defeated my argument. I just wanted to argue for the sake of arguing. Congrats bro. You just proved the point that numbers absolutely do lie. Lol…I knew my Spitz argument was flawed from your first comment but refused to let it go because it was to much fun. lol…good stuff Kjones. Keep it up. Lol…

(I still stand strong on Kampman and Turk though)

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

Argue for the sake of arguing?

C’mon man!

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 6:59 PM EST up reply actions

im not in this argument

but just to clarify rackley tied for the lead in sacks given up last year of a guard and tied for fourth worst in penalties by a guard

Cold Blooded

by Jaggaholic82 on Feb 22, 2012 8:14 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

In it or not...

it’s fair game and input is always welcomed, at least I think so. But to reply to what you said. While I’m not sure how accurate the stats kterr used in his article about the state of our offensive line going forward but let’s assume for the sake of this conversation, they’re right. It says Rackley allowed 7 sacks and had 7 penalties. I remember quite well that at the beginning of the season there was 3 games in row where Rackley allowed a sack a game. With that being said, he only allowed 4 the rest of the season, which is damn good. As far as the penalties goes, I’m sure he’ll only better that as the o-line gels, as discipline should begin to set in with that.

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 8:47 PM EST up reply actions

yeah but when you look at it comparative to the others at his position

he played very poorely there is no way around it. he might have improved but that doesnt mean he was playing well. he was still allowing pressure. i can see where youre coming from if you believe he wont be that bad next year but in terms of last year theres not much to be said that could defend his play. it was horrendous, plain and simple

Cold Blooded

by Jaggaholic82 on Feb 22, 2012 10:32 PM EST up reply actions

That's your view on it.

You say that his play was bad relative to others at his position. But how many of them were rookies, from a ‘small’ school, making a transition to a new position? I doubt very few, if any. I don’t remember where I seen this but I read somewhere that it was a four game stretch where Rackley didn’t allow a single pressure, which only further proves my point about the improvement he made through out the season. If this is true, then it had to be at the tail end of the season. And actually, there is something that can be said to defend his play. The fact that MJD had the rushing title and a large majority of his runs were either up the middle or to the left side of the line. This makes it obvious that he’s good at run blocking and just needs to add some strength and polish his technique and he’ll become a strength in pass protection too. The only thing I’m on record saying about Rackley is that he only improved, and there is evidence that this is true, and that there is nothing to make me believe he won’t continue to do so.

by kjones407 on Feb 23, 2012 12:03 AM EST up reply actions

ok first off that doesnt matter

hes a player in the NFL i dont want to hear excuses gene viewed him as good enough to trade up into the third round to get. he isnt an undrafted free agent he was a third round pick

and also thats false he allowed a pressure in 11 out of his 15 games(according to PFF) with his longest strech being 2 games but allowing a sack during that stretch

also our worst averages came off right tackle and interior LG position so its not true stating he has good run blocking because nothing that is stated through statistics proves that he is. also eugene monroe is on the left side so that would help any of his averages to the left

but finally i agree that hes getting better but that doesnt mean he was good. he can be but he wasnt good last year like youre trying to make him out to be. just not

Cold Blooded

by Jaggaholic82 on Feb 23, 2012 10:45 AM EST up reply actions

"ok first off that doesnt matter"

Of course it’s not going to when you’re trying to make a case against the fact. And how is that making an excuse? It’s a fact. Believe it or not, more third round picks are developmental players, even from the ‘bigger’ schools. Most of them don’t get the chance to start their rookie year because they can’t beat out their competition, but Rackley was able to and hold on as a starter. It’s not like Gene was the one who got decided whether he started or not.

And even if it wasn’t a 4 game stretch, you still proved my point. There were 4 games where he didn’t allow one single pressure. Not one. If he went two games in a row while not allowing any pressures and only 1 sack, that should be acceptable.

You say the worst averages came from where Rackley was but you failed to mention that 77 of our 102 1st downs and 41 of our 51 10+ yard runs, came from up the middle or to the left side of the line, where Rackley is. So why you say there are stats to say that he wasn’t a good run blocker, there are also some that say that he was.

Lastly, I’d like it for you to find where I said he was good last year. I’ve never said that.

by kjones407 on Feb 23, 2012 11:37 AM EST up reply actions

you, sir, are a certified ruh-tard

Gene smith single handedly brought one of the WORST DEFENSES (last years defense…we all know how frustrating that was to watch) and turned it into a defense that finished the season just outside the top five (not to mention we probably set a billion records with the amount of injuries we had…we could have easily been top 5). He did not go out and buy a ton of big name players…apart from poz they were all relative no-names. In my opinion after last years free agency Gene Smith is a free agency wiz. The man knows each free agent inside and out #justmytwocents #UrRetarded

by juanduflueve on Feb 22, 2012 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

dont use hashtags

this isnt twitter lol

Cold Blooded

by Jaggaholic82 on Feb 22, 2012 8:15 PM EST up reply actions

While I respect your right to your own opinion

there’s no reason for both of us to think you’re wrong…It’s okay.

by T.Holmes on Feb 23, 2012 12:13 AM EST up reply actions

One season of 3-4 pickups doesn't over ride many years of terrible free agent pickups...

by T.Holmes on Feb 23, 2012 12:16 AM EST up reply actions

A punter that lost of two games with his play (Panthers and Bengals). We lost b/c a man couldn't catch a simple hike of a ball and couldn't kick it more than 22 yards and out of bounds.

by Slawsc on Feb 22, 2012 12:59 PM EST up reply actions

I'm not disagreeing...

about how bad he was when here but he didn’t single handely lose those games for us. If we were really meant to win those games, we should’ve never been in position for the punter to lose them for us.

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 1:05 PM EST up reply actions

I am normally a "team" guy, but Turk had like 3 horrendous punts in the 4th quarter in which we could never flip field position in the Bengals game. I put that loss on him.

I left the stadium after that game thinking we never would win another game for the rest of the year, so at least things got better and we did win a few.

by Slawsc on Feb 22, 2012 1:07 PM EST up reply actions

That means...

that on 3 seperate occasions, the offense had an opportunity to at least get in FG range and failed to do so. That doesn’t excuse Turk’s poor performances but it does say something about how bad the offense was if neither one of those chances, they couldn’t do anything with the ball. Especially with you saying “we could never flip field position”, which is saying that the field position from the where the ball was being punted was bad to begin with. Again, I’m not trying to take up for Turk (because I despised him too) but I’m not willing to go as far to put a loss entirely on his shoulders, especially under the circumstances in which the situation unfolded.

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 1:15 PM EST up reply actions

But you can also argue that the offense receiving the ball at the edge of their own endzone forced them to be more conservative.

That most definitely could have been the case in those situations. We may never know (because I don’t remember the exact series)…but if that were the case we would be correct in our assessment of blaming those losses on Turk. #JustMyTwoCents

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 3:59 PM EST up reply actions

You're right.

It’s impossible to really tell what happened unless the game is reviewed, so I’ll leave it at that.

by kjones407 on Feb 22, 2012 6:55 PM EST up reply actions

Right on

Its good to see some of the other guys out there listed in a single article. I think its a good write-up and i have to agree with you about Laurent Robinson as i also think he could be a good player for the Jags. Steve Smith is another one i would like to see brought in. Im really hoping they go after quality and quantity at the position.

by GoGuars21 on Feb 22, 2012 2:03 PM EST reply actions

I know ppl cringe when I say I like Robinson but I think if not for his injuries he'd have already shown more...

Then again, we could say the same thing for Mike Sims-Walker and Zach Miller! Lol

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 2:22 PM EST up reply actions

Im with ya

100%

by GoGuars21 on Feb 22, 2012 2:38 PM EST up reply actions

This WR FA year is so vast,

it really really seems impossible go screw this up. With that being said Kendall Wright is my homerun hitter. A lot of people dont know TY Hilton from FIU, but if Gene misses out on K-Dub, Hilton is the same guy 5’10", 180 lbs 4.3-4.4 speed, stretch the field, great hands. I’ve actually this guy live and the TV doesn’t do him justice.

by nationalmediacansuckit on Feb 22, 2012 2:05 PM EST via mobile reply actions

I agree they are really similar.

by Sylvester.The.Jaguar.fan on Feb 22, 2012 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

The good thing is Hilton will be there in the 3rd or maybe 4th round

by Dwalk1217 on Feb 22, 2012 4:14 PM EST up reply actions

and he’s a projected 4th rounder who’s stock will probably rise by the draft.

by nationalmediacansuckit on Feb 22, 2012 2:07 PM EST via mobile reply actions

I think TY will probably end up rising to the lower third after he runs at the combine and shows his route tree.

It helps that he returns kicks and punts also…may save us from having to sign a guy like Ted Ginn or Roscoe Parish…

by T.Holmes on Feb 22, 2012 2:26 PM EST up reply actions

DE Michael Bennett of Bucs

is going to get a 2nd rounder tender placed on him. There goes that option. Same deal as Mike Wallace, not worth losing the pick especially when its so high in the round.

"I don't know what we're yelling about. "

by kterr on Feb 22, 2012 2:24 PM EST reply actions