Posts from the Jacksonville Jaguars Category at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

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Meet The ...
Nic Cage of the NFL. I don't know if it was his awful attempt at an accent in Con Air or what, but Cage just seems like a bad actor. Yet there he is bringing in all kinds of money with the National Treasure franchise, and he's even won an Oscar. You looked at the 2007 Jags and saw a diminutive running back flanked by a walking injury behind an inexperienced QB who had to throw to an awful receiving corps. Much like Cage, they got it done ... so why would 2008 be any different?

The Breakout
It looks like the Jags decided that David Garrard needed some receiving help, so they got him some in the off-season in the form of Jerry Porter and Troy Williamson. Both had fallen out of favor in their previous situations, yet sport undeniable talent. I'm going with Williamson here. He's still a young speedster, and has been heaped with praise early on in camp by Garrard. You should be able to get him close to the end of your draft.

After the Jacksonville Jaguars spent most of their draft on two SEC pass rushers, Paul Spicer wanted to make sure he still had a place on this team. Turns out he had nothing to worry about.

Spicer signed a three-year $10.5 million deal with the Jaguars yesterday. The veteran defensive end had skipped voluntary workouts for a couple of weeks to express his displeasure with the lack of a new deal, but it's all worked out for him -- and just in time, too, since he's getting married in a couple of weeks.

Of course, with Derrick Harvey and Quentin Groves waiting in the wings, the question now is how long Spicer remains a starter. He's recorded 18 sacks in the last three seasons, so it's unlikely that the rookies will replace him immediately. Still, the Jags seem eager to add some youth to their pass rush, and Spicer is 32, which means this will very likely be his last NFL contract. The team might have him tutoring his replacements more than playing by the end of it.

Still, that's not a terrible way to go. How many teachers do you know that make $3.5 million a year?

Over at CBS Sportsline, they are engaged in one of those silly off season NFL contests to drive more page hits their way. Fans are to vote for the "Most Fierce NFL Mascot."

Billy Buffalo recently beat the Texans Toro but will be facing a bye in the next round because of voting irregularities in the matchup between Raider Fans and Jaxson De Ville:

"This is not because [Billy Buffalo] scared off the competition, but because Jaxson De Ville and the Raiders fans were involved in conduct detrimental to the integrity of the Mascot Competition.

So, Billy will be allowed to spend this week signing autographs, playing with kids and eating Buffalo wings. He'll face off against either Poe [Ravens] or T.D [Dolphins]."

I guess in the Roger Goodell era of getting tough on bad conduct, integrity is crucial, even in stupid mascot competitions. Apparently, both teams' fans used various macros and whatnot to do automatic voting for their mascots. Do you find it surprising that Raider and Jaguar fans would cheat at this? Or is this not really cheating but rather just the proper enthusiasm that good fanbases show?

Personally, I think you can take judicial notice that Raider Fans are much scarier than a big goofy Jaguar who resembles Chester Cheetah. (See YouTube above). Though admittedly, Cheetos-stained fingers are quite the menace and should be avoided at all costs.

I think it says a lot when a first-round draft pick is in danger of getting cut because the team that drafted him added future Hall of Famers Jerry Porter and Troy Williamson to the roster. But that's exactly the fate that could befall Matt Jones, the Jaguars' 2005 first-rounder.

Assuming it happens, then what? Is there a market for a 6-6, 230-pound dude who runs a 4.37 but isn't particularly adept at getting open or catching passes? Well, of course there is. Because, you see, Jones attended University of Arkansas, and every NFL fan knows that whenever an Arkansas alum is released, the Cowboys are obligated to offer them a tryout. You know, because Jerry Jones is a Razorback.

Actually, that couldn't be further from the truth; Dallas' 2008 first-round pick, Felix Jones, is the first Arkansas player drafted during the Jones regime. But Matt Jones is still an attractive option because of his physical attributes and, more importantly, he'd come on the cheap.

Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Mike Walker, a 3rd-round draft pick in 2007, impressed his coaching staff at minicamp last season, leading many (including us) to speculate that he might get a starting job with the team. Then he suffered a knee injury in training camp and missed the 2008 season.

Well, contradicting some previous reports, Walker seems to have recovered from that knee injury and is making a big impression in Jaguars' minicamp once again. Jaguars.com editor Vic Ketchman is just one writer impressed with Walker's catching radius.

Draw a stick man. Now draw a circle around his body that represents the zone in which your stick man is capable of catching a football. How high can he go? How low can he go? Can he go as far to his left as he can to his right? Now connect the dots. That's your stick man's catching radius. Walker has a good one.

Ketchman also says, though, that Walker's NFL future depends entirely on his knee. If it remains healthy, Walker has the potential to be a starter, rather than just a great player in minicamps. That would be a good thing for the Jags, who have a strange predilection for signing receivers who can't catch. Maybe that's why they're still struggling to sell tickets.

From what I've read, former Vikings first-round pick (and the guy supposed to make fans forget about Randy Moss -- mission accomplished!) Troy Williamson is a swell guy. Despite his well-documented struggles in three tumultuous seasons, he never had a bad word to say about the organization, and took responsibility for his inconsistent performances.

Still, it should be hardly surprising that he was happy as hell to get traded this offseason:

"I'd say it was very important [to leave the Vikings] because it was getting very intense up there as far as me and the head coach and some of the other coaches," said Williamson, who was plagued by dropped passes in his time with the Vikings. "I feel like I just need to play football, be me and be comfortable in the situation.

As the Star-Tribune's Judd Zulgad points out, it's sorta funny that the AP story talks about how Williams is working overtime to improve as a pass catcher, something he also tried in Minnesota. Who knows if the outcome will be different in Jacksonville, but I applaud him for not giving up.

And while the Vikings didn't exactly have an all-star cast of wideouts on the roster, it's hard to look bad playing next to Reggie Williams and Matt Jones. So if nothing else, Williamson has that going for him.

Fan loyalty is a funny thing. In some cities -- like, say, Detroit -- an incompetent front office can run the franchise into the ground, but the fans keep selling out the stadium. In others, even good teams have a hard time drawing a crowd.

Jacksonville is one of those others. The Jacksonville Times Union has a good look at all the ways the Jaguars franchise has developed into one of the top teams in the league, and then moves on to this:

Now here's the scary part for the Jaguars' administration: In light of all this progression and coming off the team's first playoff win in eight years, there's still about 4,000 non-premium season tickets to sell to ensure all of its home games being on local television in 2008.

... With the NFL angling to put an existing team in Los Angeles in the next five years, the last thing Jacksonville wants is to give an impression that this market has trouble filling the low-priced seats (51,000) when the Jaguars' football arrow is pointing up.

The Jaguars have tried all sorts of things to sell more tickets, but here's the simple truth: The NFL miscalculated when it put a team in Jacksonville. As long as they're in Jacksonville, the Jaguars just aren't going to be the kind of team that has a packed stadium and a season-ticket waiting list.

NFL teams love sigining discarded players from division rivals, if for no other reason than to pick their brains -- which ends up being all they ever do with those players most of the time. After all, there's a reason those players were dscarded in the first place. Still, insight into an opponent's playbook is always valuable, so NFL teams will keep looking for free agents who have that.

This is the primary reason why former Indianapolis Colts receiver Craphonso Thorpe (Craphonso!) signed a deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend. The Jags probably aren't all that interested in him as a receiver, even if he probably could play better than Matt Jones. They just want to know a little more about the inner workings of the Colts' pass-heavy offense, and who better to tell them about it than a former Colt receiver?

I suspect there's a pretty slim chance that Thorpe will make the final cut. This particular story seems more likely to end with either a practice squad offer or a nice big "injury settlement check" that will leave other teams free to give him a shot. Still, if Craphonso! can help the Jags can get a leg up on their AFC South rivals, it's worth a shot, right?

Jaguars fans, try to remember to breathe. I know you don't want to hear that your $30 million receiver blew out a hammy in workouts last week. Just remind yourself, "It's only May ... It's only May ..."

To his credit, Jerry Porter is taking a very cautious approach to his recovery.

"I'll take it slow. I don't want to rush back into it because a hamstring can be a reoccurring thing if you don't respect it.

"A lot of things are accomplished in May and June, but championships aren't won in May and June."

Exactly. Porter won't play in a meaningful game for another three months. Why try to get back on the field for those "Organized Team Activities" now? It's not like he couldn't spend extra time in the film room with David Garrard and the other receivers, learning the playbook and discussing strategies, right?

I have a feeling Porter will be constantly telling reporters that his hamstring is fine when training camp starts. I suspect Jack Del Rio hopes that's true.

Jim Brown is still the gold standard for NFL running backs. It doesn't matter how many other players pass him on the list for most career rushing yards. Brown's 12,312 yards stood as a record for almost two decades, and it still remains a milestone for other running backs.

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor gets this. That's why he told Vic Ketchman, editor of the team's web site, that he wants to pass Jim Brown on the all-time rushing yards list before he retires. Last week after a team workout with several Jaguars rookies, Taylor hinted he might stick around even after he passes Brown.

Clearly, moving ahead of the man that even Barry Sanders' father says is the best NFL running back of all time is a worthy goal -- especially since it will be that much harder to keep a guy who passes Brown out of the Hall of Fame.

Taylor is 1,597 yards short of Brown's yardage mark, so unless he has a career year, he probably won't pass that mark until 2009. Only seven other running backs have passed Brown on the all-time rushing yards list, and Taylor is one of three active backs within reach of 12,312 yards. The other two are Edgerrin James (11,617 yards) and LaDainian Tomlinson (10,543 yards).