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Quick Bytes: 25 Days till Training Camp

By River City Rage

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Quick Bytes: The daily digest of everything you need to know about the Jacksonville Jaguars (and other things).

Today is the first day of July, which means the Jacksonville Jaguars are a mere 25 short days until opening training camp!  This also means that there is 25 long days where there is very little Jaguars news, updates, or anything else to hear as far as official reports.  But that certainly does not mean that there's nothing to talk about, just that the reguar media is basically on vacation for the next three weeks or so.

: Pete Prisco of CBS Sportsline has two articles of note.  His first, the "Breakout Players of 2008" feature is a typical "dead zone" article where potential and speculation reigns over fact.  Facts, of course, are few and far between right now, but whatever:
26. Troy Williamson, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars: He was considered a flop in Minnesota after his selection in the first round of the 2005 draft. He had 79 catches in his first three seasons, just 24 in 2007. That's why the Vikings traded him to the Jaguars for a sixth-round pick. During the Jaguars' offseason work, Williamson was outstanding. He didn't drop a pass. If that carries over to camp, his speed will be a big addition to the Jacksonville passing game.
What I meant by typical is that Prisco starts with #30, and is listing 10 a week for three weeks.  So we'll have 20 more days until we know who he picks at the top.  Williamson is an interesting pick though, he's shown lots of potential in Jacksonville so far, but the team will know nothing until he does it in a real honest game.

: Prisco also does another typical "dead zone" trick by listing his Top 50 Players by Position.  It's fundamentally impossible to rate players across teams and positions because each have a completely different value.  Technically, the top 32 of the 50 should be the Quarterbacks, since they have more value to a team than any other position, but that's not how this works.  Here are the highlights:
1. Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots: Can he do any more than he did last season? The scary thing for the rest of the league is, yes he can.
Ugh.  I see where this is going.

6. Mario Williams, DE, Houston Texans: Williams is making the Texans proud for passing on Reggie Bush and Vince Young to take this pass rusher. He might have been the league's best defensive player in the final eight weeks of 2007.
I'll admit, I admire what the Texans are doing on defense.  By that I mean I respect how they are creating an "anti-Colts" defense in the same way the Jaguars tried in the early Del Rio era.  Mario Williams was a vastly better choice than Reggie Bush.  Give them credit, they made a good choice here.

49. Fred Taylor, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars: Taylor finally got his due last season with his first Pro Bowl appearance. At 32, he remains one of the biggest home-run threats in the league. His 5.4 per-carry average was second best among the league's best rushers to Peterson (5.6).
Yup, that's number 49.  Fred Taylor is the only Jaguar to get a mention, and even then it's 2nd from the bottom.  David Garrard, Rashean Mathis, and Maurice Jones-Drew are forgotten.  Kellen Winslow, Drew Brees, and Braylon Edwards all made the list though.  I understand that there's no point in complaing about meaningless stuff like this, but there's something to be said about a guy who spent a long time covering the Jaguars to remember one player drafted since he left town. 

: There's a new Jaguars blog on the FanSided Network.  The fine folks at "Black and Teal" are just starting out, and it's a pretty good read.  They already picked a fight with some Cowboys fans, which is a good way to earn some respect.  It's like they play by prison rules and beat up the biggest guy in the yard on the first day.  I look forward to keeping up with them as they get started!

: Charlie Bernstein of JagNation, Brendon Sonnone of Jaguars Journal and I did a podcast last night.  If you're interested in seeing me painfully cop out on a question about the 1999 Jaguars vs. the 2008 Jaguars and other good commentary, you can download it for your listening pleasure here.

There's your Tuesday Morning dose of Jaguars goodness.  We have a very long interview with Jaguars.com Editor Vic Ketchman coming up later today, so stay tuned for that!

-Chris

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