Posts tagged JerryPorter at FanHouse

Jaguars wide receiver Reggie Williams has never lived up to the hype that goes along with being a top-10 pick, but he showed glimpses of his big-play potential last season when he averaged more than 16 yards per reception (his previous best was 12.7 ypc in 2005). He also scored 10 touchdowns, doubling his total through his first three seasons.

I suspect playing alongside Matt Jones makes Williams look even better, but 2008 has gotten off to an inauspicious start for the team's No. 1(ish) wideout. One day into training camp he joined offseason acquisition Jerry Porter on the physically unable to perform list.

And yesterday, after being activated from the PUP, Williams promptly injured his knee and was carted off the field. The Times-Union's Vito Stellino writes that Williams "appeared to reinjure his sore right knee after making a catch and spinning in the evening practice", but the Jags have yet to release an official injury update.

While we await Williams' fate, Jones will get more reps to prove he's not an unmitigated bust, although I get the sense that ship sailed sometime in 2006. But, hey, the Jags still have David Garrard, Fred Taylor and MJD, so there's that.

Only one day into training camp, David Garrard appears to be running out of targets.

Reggie Williams sprained his right knee late last week and has been placed on the Jacksonville Jaguars' Physically Unable to Perform list. He joins Jerry Porter, who had surgery on his ailing hamstring last week, and tight end George Wrightster, who's still struggling with a knee injury, on the list.

Losing your projected #1 and #2 receivers before camp even gets started can't be good. Still, Garrard has plenty of potential starters in camp, including Troy Williamson, Dennis Northcutt, Mike Walker, John Broussard and tight end Marcedes Lewis. The real question now is which players can step up and claim starting jobs -- even if it's just in the preseason, because it will show everyone else just how much depth the Jaguars really have at receiver.

Look for Walker and Williamson to get a lot more attention in the coming weeks. The last thing this team wants to do is depend on Dennis Northcutt over the long haul.

This is probably not how Jerry Porter wanted to start his contract in Jacksonville.

The Jaguars' $30 million receiver underwent surgery to repair a torn hamstring and will miss training camp and the entire preseason. Porter suffered the injury during offseason workouts, and it hasn't healed nearly as quickly as he and the team had hoped. Head coach Jack Del Rio said the team is counting on Porter to make a full recovery before the team's opening game against Tennessee Titans in Nashville.

On the one hand, it's good that Porter is taking care of this now, because hamstring pulls can nag players over an entire season if not treated properly. (See: Steve Smith, 2006.) On the other hand, the Jaguars will now have to start training camp with a lot of receivers -- Reggie Williams, Troy Williamson, Dennis Northcutt -- who have questionable hands. Perhaps second-year receivers Mike Walker and John Broussard will get their chance to shine during camp this year.

Previously at FanHouse:
Porter Pulls Hamstring, Good Thing It's May

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.

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.

How many touchdowns can you buy for $15 million a year?

That's the question the Jacksonville Jaguars will answer this year. They signed quarterback David Garrard to a 6-year, $60 million deal, and Jerry Porter to a 6-year, $30 million deal. That's $90 million over 6 years -- money that the Jaguars spent to put a lot more points on the board.

Early reports indicate that the Garrard-to-Porter combo is already looking strong in minicamp, with Garrard throwing to his new teammate as often as possible and Porter catching high balls and low balls with relative ease. He's also saying all the right things:

"It's a fresh start and a damn good team with high expectations. The team did well without me, and I want to come in and pull my weight and make sure I can help the team in some way."

Of course, it's easy to say this is money well spent in May, but if these reports continue to trickle out of Jacksonville, Porter might be a worthwhile fantasy target. Plus, if Garrard-to-Porter opens up the offense, that can only mean good things for Maurice Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor.

So you pay your ten bucks for a movie ticket and your five bucks for a popcorn and soda, and you just want to sit down and enjoy a good yarn, but it never fails -- someone's cell phone starts ringing.

You don't want to, but you're compelled to turn around and see who it is, just so you can remember the face of the jerk who ruined your movie night. Then you see the guy leaving (Amen to that) and suddenly, you think, "Wait, isn't that Jerry Porter?"

Porter planned to see a midnight movie in Washington on February 29, but his phone rang at 12:08 a.m. His agent was calling to say the Jaguars were interested.

"I was supposed to have my phone off but I didn't. I ran out of the theater and the Jaguars called 20 minutes later," Porter said.

By the end of the day, Porter had a five-year, $30 million deal with Jacksonville. Would he have had the deal if he had done the right thing and turned his cell phone off? Probably, but it's not as good a story.

What I really want to know, though, is what movie he went to see at midnight. I suddenly have this image of Jerry Porter as a closet Rocky Horror fan, doing the Time Warp and standing up and shouting, "#$@% that bird!" It's probably not true, but it would make him a lot more interesting.

Once upon a time, Jerry Porter was the future of the Oakland Raiders receiving corps. He was good enough to convince Al Davis that Jerry Rice and Tim Brown were too old, and Porter could take their place. When Randy Moss joined the Raiders in 2005, he and Porter looked like a formidable receiver tandem.

Something happened, though, on the way to Porter's stardom -- Art Shell. Porter and Shell clashed constantly, and as the Raiders fell apart, both Moss and Porter lost interest and waited for their contracts to run out.

So when Moss went to New England and set a single-season record for touchdowns, it made everyone wonder if Porter might be capable of the same sort of renaissance.

That's why you can't blame the Jacksonville Jaguars -- a team with plenty of cap room and plenty of receivers who can't catch -- for betting $30 million on Porter. If a change of scenery does half as much for Porter as it did for Moss, then that would give Porter, oh, about 12 touchdown receptions, or two more than Reggie Williams, who had six more than anyone else on that team.

That's not the only reason the Jaguars added Porter, though.

The start of free agency is kinda like drunken sailors on shore leave; money and bad decisions are pervasive, and inevitably, plenty of people will regret the choices they made when they look back on this weekend. All that differentiates the two are the dearth of strippers during free agency, although Pacman Jones is working on changing that (hey, he's got the time).

Anyway, everybody got paid today except, maybe, the best player available. Randy Moss, recently of the Patriots, wasn't franchised last week, which was surprising since he was coming off his best season in the NFL and New England was a completely different offense with him on the field. (Wes Welker had a lot to do with that too; the point, though, is that things are very different when Tom Brady isn't forced to call Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney and Troy Brown his primary receivers.)

So Day 1 of free agency is coming to a close and Moss, who many suspected might already have a deal in place with the Pats, is still unemployed. And now, according to NFL Network's Adam Schefter, he's free to visit with other teams.

There's been some tumult in the Jaguars' receiving corps lately, with Troy Williamson coming and Ernest Wilford going. And that's for good reason; those guys just haven't been very good (shockingly, though, Matt Jones is still gainfully employed). But adding former Raider Jerry Porter will help.

Porter's cost -- six years, $30 million -- is easier on the wallet than what Bernard Berrian is commanding, and it can be argued that Porter's got the better overall skillset. He'll provide a big target and decent speed for David Garrard, along with much better hands than anyone Garrard's had to throw to thus far.

Porter has a reputation as a malcontent, but in hindsight who didn't hate playing for Art Shell? Other than that one disastrous season he's been pretty productive without ever being the top guy, including 705 yards and six touchdowns last year, when he had to deal with the chaos of playing with four different quarterbacks.

Now in a much more stable situation in all aspects with the Jaguars, it's not hard seeing Porter as the first reliable receiving threat in Jacksonville since Jimmy Smith. Some would say it's about time.