I am an owner who has no problem ranking Dez Bryant in the top 10 as a rookie and also am one who semi "bashes" Vincent Jackson (although I'd actually refer to it as lightly criticizing, as I'm not nearly as down on him as Homer).
I am assuming the crux of your above argument is that people have a tendancy to trend towards the sexy uknown of a rookie prospect -vs- the relative boringness of a "already proven" and known prospect like Vincent Jackson, even if it is far riskier and far less sure.
I am much higher on Bryant than I am Jackson simply because I see Bryant as a superior talent. It has nothing to do with the appeal of the uknown and everything to do with the fact that I don't view Jackson as a difference maker at all. The reasons for this are numerous and I lightly mentioned some of them earlier in this thread in a stream-of-consciousness type post. In a nutshell, I think people are far too quick to blame all the warts that are there with Jackson as simple by-products of his environment and surroundings rather than defficiencies with him. For example, SSOG says that he doesn't receive a large volume of targets because he plays with a QB that spreads the ball around, while I assert that his QB spreads the ball around because he simply is not a truly elite NFL receiver. He's MUCH more in the Marques Colston mold (a good receiver who can put up borderline top 10 stats, but by no means is capable of carrying an offense or demanding an elite number of targets) than he is the Larry Fitzgerald mold...or the Brandon Marshall mold...or the Roddy White mold...etc..... I don't view players like Marques Colston as difference makers, which is precisely what SSOG has referred to Jackson as on numerous occassions. I view Vincent Jackson/Marques Colston type players as pieces that can put you over the top for a title run, but not core players to your team (I don't view any player outside the top 10 at each position as real core players).
I don't say he doesn't get the target totals because Rivers spreads the ball around. I say he doesn't get the target totals because the Chargers are routinely among the cellar dwellers in terms of pass attempts. The San Diego Chargers have been in the bottom 10 in the NFL in pass attempts for every one of the last four seasons.Take a look at Antonio Gates. The last time the Chargers were NOT among the league cellar dwellers in pass attempts was the 2005 season. In that season, Gates had 140 targets in just 15 games. In the 4 years since, Gates has averaged 110 targets a year. Would you say Gates isn't a difference maker? Would you call Antonio Gates a "Marques Colston type"? Because I certainly wouldn't. Gates is a weapon, a difference-making offensive stud. And last year, Vincent Jackson got as many targets as Gates did. Neither of them got an elite target total, but that's not on either of them or on Philip Rivers, that's on Norv Turner.
Another issue I see is with his supsension and knucklehead factor- SSOG says he doesn't view his legal troubles as anything to be concerned with and that they are different than Brandon Marshall, thus meaning Jackson has no knucklehead factor, but I assert that if Jackson even looks at a cop wrong and manages to find even mild legal trouble, he could be facing a much longer suspension. I also find the fact that he was driving with a suspended licence and was arrested ON THE WAY TO A PLAYOFF game as a fairly large red flag. The knucklehead factor HAS to be high to do something like this on the day of such a critical game. Is it as concerning as Brandon Marshall's legal situation? No, definitely not. Is it still a concern? Absolutely, yes.
Why would driving on a suspended license on the way to a playoff game be any different than driving on a suspended license at any other time? It's not like VJax is going to say "Oh geez, I've been driving on this suspended license for the past 6 months, but today's a playoff game so I better just call a cab".In the interest of full disclosure... I've driven on a suspended license before. Personally, I still think I'm a pretty standup guy with no real risk of legal problems in the next 5 years. I don't view driving on a suspended license as a red flag, but perhaps I'm just biased as a fellow hardened criminal suspended-license-driver-onner.
Additionally, his holdout indicates several things about him:
#1) Very, very few players, if any, ever hold out an entire year for pure monetary reasons. It is one thing to pull an Emmitt Smith and stay away for 2 games when you know you will be paid. It is something ENTIRELY different to sit the entire year when you know there is essentially no chance you will get paid. This is a comparison SSOG made earlier in this thread, but I don't think the 2 situations could possibly have been different. There is a certain amount of diva and/or questionable decision making when essentially making the decision to sit an entire year instead of playing for somewhat below market value.
Emmitt Smith would have kept holding out if he hadn't gotten his contract. He'd already held out 2 games. What makes you think he wouldn't have held out more if ownership hadn't caved?I think the holdout indicates one thing about Vincent Jackson, and one thing only. It indicates that he's in a unique situation wholly unprecedented in the free agency era. He signed a contract. He honored the terms of his contract without complaint. He signed to play 5 years for the Chargers at $3.5 million. He played 5 years for the Chargers. He was compensated $3.5 million. After all that, after his contract was completely finished, he was denied his right to free agency due to an absurd technicality in the CBA.
That's the thing to keep in mind here. Vincent Jackson isn't dissatisfied with his contract. He's not complaining about his contract. This isn't one of those situations where you can say "hey, no one forced you to sign that contract". Vincent Jackson has no contract. He signed his contract, he honored his contract, he played out his contract, and now his contract is over. Due to a technicality, the San Diego Chargers have retained Jackson's rights. Jackson got absolutely screwed. It'd be like if, after this season, Randy Moss's contract with the Patriots was up... but the NFL invented this rule that said that if your name ends in "andy Moss", you can't enter free agency, and the Patriots said "well sure, you're welcome to stay here and play for us for another year... but we're only going to pay you $1 million dollars even though everyone on the planet knows you could easily have gone elsewhere and signed a new $40 million deal".
Holding out is not a character flaw, here. Vincent Jackson has gotten bent over by the NFL and the San Diego Chargers, and he's doing the only thing he possibly can do other than smiling, taking it, and asking for another. Even implying for the briefest second that this is somehow a character flaw of Vincent Jackson's is, in my mind, indefensible. If any other person on this board found themselves in Jackson's position, they'd be
IRATE. If you were a tech support guy, and some company paid you market value to come in and do tech support for them for 2 years, and then after your 2 years were up the government passed a law that said nobody was allowed to leave their current employer, and your current employer said that they'd be happy to have you back... for 20% of your market value... I'd imagine a lot of the posters on here would walk out on that job, too, if they could afford it.
If anything, the fact that Vincent Jackson played out his entire contract without complaint when it was glaringly obvious that he was woefully undercompensated is a testament to the strength of his character, not the weakness of it. He's been making less money than Buster Davis for three years now. Even if you include the $3 million tender the Chargers initially offered VJax this offseason, his "contract" would have been for 6 years, $6.5 million. By comparison, Craig Davis signed a 5 year, $7.8 million dollar contract with another $3+ million in incentives. Did you ever hear a single report of Jackson ever once complaining about his contract, though? Because I never did.
#3) Teams are not exactly beating down the Chargers door looking to acquire him. They have reportedly received mild interest at best and that mild interest has been turned away because teams are either not willing to pay Jackson what he is asking or teams are not willing to give up a 2nd round pick for him (which is the reported asking price). This should tell you that other teams don't view Jackson as an elite talent either. The Broncos had no problem moving Brandon Marshall for a 2nd round pick earlier this year despite lots of character concerns, so why can't the Chargers do the same? A 3 game suspension certainly would not have prevented this (and the only reason the suspension is longer than 3 games at this point is because the Chargers and/or Jackson could not find a taker for his services). The logical answer is that teams around the league question his ability to be an elite receiver and/or difference making #1 on a team and don't view him anywhere near the Brandon Marshall tier of talent, so why is he ranked there?
Plenty of teams are interested in acquiring Jackson. The problem is that the Chargers are ignoring all of them except for the Seahawks. How interested are these teams? We'll never know, but we do know that the Redskins are interested but have been denied permission to talk to VJax, we know that the Seahawks expressed repeated interest and reportedly unloaded Housh in an effort to make room for VJax, we know that the Rams came in and worked hard at getting an 11th-hour deal done, we've heard rumors that the Vikings were interested... there's been no lack of interest in VJax, even though teams know what his contract demands are.
Dynasty is a marathon, not a sprint. Right now, Stephen Williams is winning over Andre Roberts, but all that's gotten him is the #4 receiver role on a poor offense. I'm much more concerned about landing the guy who is going to be the #2 two years from now than I am about landing the guy who is going to be the #4 today. As for who that guy might be... maybe Breaston, maybe Doucet, maybe Roberts, maybe Williams. Maybe even someone not on the roster. Which is why I'm so low on Roberts (value 3), Doucet (value 2), and Williams (value 2). There are enough other quality prospects out there that I don't feel a burning need to roster a rookie having a good camp and in a dogfight for the #4 receiver role on a bad passing offense.
And let's wait until LT gets a chance to play post-AJ before we declare him talentless.
