Yesterday, D'Juan Woods got that call that every player dreads.
"Hey, Woods! Coach wants to see you... And bring your playbook!"
That's it, D'Juan's time in Jacksonville has come to an end. He's been released, and barring any injuries to the other WR's, we won't see him again. He may catch on with another team, and we certainly wish him the best. Unfortunately for him, he's now irrelevant to the WR discussion in Jacksonville.
I know a lot of people liked D'Juan and wanted him to succeed. He embodied the hard working, but less talented player who could work his way onto the roster. He was the epitome of an underdog, and hopefully he'll continue his NFL career. However, the important thing to take away from this is not the loss of the Woods, but the ascension of the new WR's.
After only a handful of OTA practices, Woods became expendable. It says a lot that a guy who's known the system for 2 years and is an incredibly hard worker, is beat out by rookies already. D'Juan has had the playbook for years and there is very little learning curve, yet he already fell far behind the other WR's.
The only way Gene would do this is if he was sufficiently convinced that the rookies would be higher than Woods on the depth chart. The fact that the rookies impressed this upon him so quickly says a lot about the improvement of the WR corp over last year. Mike Walker, Dennis Nothcutt, and Torry Holt must be showing up nicely.
-Collin Streetman