Thrilled to hear this, and will happily spread it to bring Walter's price down as much as possible, and acquire him in as many Leagues as possible, without pause.
6'3" 221lb Walter has plenty of size, plenty of heart, and plenty of intangibles, to compensate for less physical talent, to hold off Jacoby Jones from making a significant statistical impact for this upcoming Season, and there are other reasons related to the Team, which Jones has no control over, I'm confident in as well.
Jacoby Jones may be, no, undoubtably IS, more ATHLETICALLY GIFTED than Kevin Walter, but in terms of what they've showed so far in their NFL careers, Kevin Walter has proven to be a much more qualified NFL Starting Caliber WR than Jacoby Jones, for the time being. There are plenty of gifted athletes who we've all been stunned by, that they didn't make it for various reasons beyond their athletic ability in the NFL, but it happens more often than not. I think it's great that Jones is making strides, because, like Kubiak says, he has the POTENTIAL to be great. Realizing that potential, and developing the areas he needs to grow in are more than a one-offseason thing.
Until he's deposed, via competition, by a better NFL Caliber WR, (which as we all know demands more than just athleticism), Walter has a pretty solid hold on the starting job in Houston opposite quite possibly the most dominant (yes, it's dominant, not 'dominate', HTH, but I digress...) WR (Andre Johnson) in the NFL, in an Passing Offense that's potentially a Fort Knox of Fantasy Gold. There's no WR currently on the Roster that's a significant enough threat to him, in my opinion, barring injury, who he can't stay ahead of by merely applying himself to what he already does well, with the same vigor he's already used to applying.
By all means, Jacoby Jones is a worthy Player to Roster, under the right circumstances, or at least keep an eye on, which I'll detail, but please don't get caught up in a prototypical late-May, early-June fluff piece, and make an expensive move to do so. OF COURSE Jacoby Jones is expected to COMPETE: it's about damn time someone on that roster competed with Walter...but if you read into it, the things Jones will be expected to do in order to displace Walter from the Starter's Role have to do with many things outside of his pure physical talent, which I give all due acknowledgement and respect...and they aren't exactly things one becomes better than someone who's already doing them well, in merely one off-season.
Walter brings to the table veteran savvy, personal maturity, and a 'lunch-pail' work ethic that the Coaches, and locker room both admire and respect. He also has that offensive scheme down pat. Jones may be improving in these areas, but if you look back over his personal history, he has plenty of work still do do before he's going to be trusted by QB and Coach, in critical down and distance situations with an NFL Game (and possibly his Head Coach's career) on the line. In an offense that has such potential to be explosive when firing on all cylinders, and requires the WR in Walters role to be much more than just a dominANT (there's that word again) athelete, yet is in a transitional period (intense work with the running game personnel, AND the recovery of stellar TE Owen Daniels intertwined with the development of James Casey), along with the widespread perception that Kubiak is on the hot-seat, removing a dependable Mr Reliable who knows every little nuance of the scheme, and has both an on and off the field rapport with Matt Schaub.
When you take all these factors into account, it would take a developmental step of Herculean proportions for Jones (or an injury to AJ or KW), along with a significant regression by Walter, to overtake Walter and see a major increase in offensive snaps this Season. When there are this many variables at play in the offensive equation (not the least among them, the pressure on Kubiak and Schaub) it would be a challenge for almost anyone to move a critical player out of a critical role. Think about it: all KW has to do to keep his job is to do the things that earned him that job in the 1st place as well as he's capable, and not many of them have anything to do with his athletic ability. Jones is going to have to dramatically improve in areas that take longer to improve in, where he's substandard to begin with, and developmentally behind as well.
In short, given the situation the Team/Coach/Offense finds itself in, and the areas that Walter is ahead of Jones, Jacoby Jones has to work much harder to overtake Walter than Walter has to stay ahead of Jones.
This is not meant to be a put-down of Jacoby Jones physical gifts. I admire and respect his athletic ability, and see him as a WR to watch, if he can put it all together, which the article leads us to believe that he's making strides. I don't currently own Andre Johnson in any Leagues. If I did, I'd be very interested in acquiring Jones as a safety net, but not at the cost of a WR I could legitimately use as a bye-week fill in Starter. If I was deep at WR, I'd be interested as well, especially in Dynasty, as a project to monitor, and potentially to boom in response to a somewhat likely probability that Andre Johnson will miss some time...but I'm not ready to have him on a Roster where I'm forced to rotate him into my Starting Lineup based on what I expect him to produce this Season, without injury playing a major factor in the amount of snaps he receives, and I don't factor that into my Drafting Strategy when evaluating the roster worthiness of 'project' WR's. In a typical start 3 League, I wouldn't draft him any higher than a WR6 or 7, where his value is all reward, and almost zero risk.
Barring injury (and the injury risk to Schaub and AJ I see as on the high side of moderate), I don't think there's anyone standing in the way of Walter FLOORING at 56/725/6, with reachable upside of 64/830/8. Most of us should have no problem getting #3WR production (25-48 Ranking depending on League Size (12/14/16) out of a Player we'll be able to Draft where most WR 5's are going to be going. That's pretty much grand theft, and something I'd like to do plenty of in August and September.
Kudos to Jacoby Jones for developing. I hope it continues, and we have a future NFL Monster on our radar for years to come. Just my opinion that it doesn't impact my predicted performance for Kevin Walter in 2010.
