The Unofficial Slogan of the 2008 Training Camp::
Roster Prediction Challenge: Offense
Training camp starts on Friday, which means that it's time for our yearly prediction about what the final 53-man roster looks like on September 1st. This year is harder than most, especially at Wide Receiver, though not impossible. What I'm going to do is put my picks, position by position, with a little commentary. If you disagree, post your own roster in the comments. Once that's done, I'll aggregate everything and see how our "best guess" roster compares to the real thing.
Quarterbacks (3)
David Garrard, Cleo Lemon, Paul Smith: The Jaguars will break their recent tradition of having 2 quarterbacks on the roster by keeping Paul Smith. The Jaguars would rather put him on the Practice Squad, but I've a hunch that he does well enough to merit a spot, if only because another team might snatch him up.
Running Backs (3)
Fred Taylor, Maurice Jones-Drew, Chauncey Washington: Pretty obvious.
Fullbacks (2)
Greg Jones, Montell Owens: Again, pretty obvious.
Wide Receivers (5)
Jerry Porter, Dennis Northcutt, Reggie Williams, Mike Walker, Troy Williamson: This is very much in limbo based off of injuries. This is certainly a "best case" situation, should Porter and Walker appear to be struggling, you can insert...ugh...Matt Jones and John Broussard into the mix while they enjoy the PUP list.
Tight Ends (3)
Marcades Lewis, George Wrightster, Greg Estandia: Injuries will decide who becomes the third TE. I like Estandia, though the team needs to see more out of someone at the 3rd TE position. Wrightster has injury concerns as well.
Offensive Line (9)
Khalif Barnes, Richard Collier, Dennis Norman, Brad Meester, Tony Pashos, Vince Manuwai, Maurice Williams, Uche Nwaneri, Tutan Reyes: Having three quarterbacks means only nine offensive linemen, which makes me uncomfortable. If I'm wrong anywhere, it's here.
Total Offensive Roster (25)
Splitting the offense and defense with 25 each is reasonable and in line with what the Jaguars have done over the last several seasons. Should the Jaguars need 26 on defense or decide to go with 10 offensive linemen, Paul Smith (hopefully) makes it through waivers and onto the Practice Squad.
That's my roster, what's yours?
-Chris