Jerry Porter Signs With Jacksonville Jaguars

NFL Free Agency action continues to come in a flurry. Former Oakland Raider has signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

ESPN is reporting the Porter signed a deal for six-years, $30 million. Porter, 29, will try to follow in Randy Moss's footsteps when he start his 9th season with Jags in 2008. He spent the previous 8 seasons in Oakland.

Moss who was traded away after two lackluster years in Oakland went to the Patriots for next to nothing. Adding Moss's big play ability and the fact defenses had to roll coverage to him most certainly helped the Patriots to their perfect almost perfect season. He was in fact such a benefit that Tom Brady said publicly "They better resign him, wherever Randy goes, I go."

Jaguars quarterback David Garrard, who didn't have a big time receiver to throw to last year, hopes Porter as well as Troy Williamson, can propel the Jags past the early playoff exit they suffered last season. Williamson, acquired for a 6th round pick from Minnesota, has certainly not delivered on his 7th overall draft selection in the 2005 Draft. The Jaguars hope he will perform a little better, with Garrard throwing him the ball, than he did with the revolving door at quarterback Minnesota has employed over the last few seasons.

Looks like my projection of the Jags draft will involve a defensive end just got stronger.

Vikings Trade Troy Williamson to Jags

Anthony Hall of Vikings War Cry is reporting that Vikings receiver Troy Williamson has come to terms on a trade with Jacksonville. Reportedly it will be a pick from the 2nd day of the draft.

Last week Williamson's agent was total he could shop around to see what other teams might be willing to give for his player. I am sure the Vikings like myself expected the answer to be "nothing, I wouldn't trade you anything for the biggest draft bust in recent memory."Apparently Jacksonville has a short memory, as in, "can't remember how bad Williamson was last season" short. At this point I am having the most difficulty with two simple choices; Am I more pissed off they are only getting a day 2 draft pick or am I more surprised they got anything at all.

While it is impressive that the Vikings aren't being forced to just release him, the disappointment still kills me. It isn't that he was 7th overall and now we are getting a 6th or 7th rouunder for him. It is the fact we chose him in the first place, a junior out of a smaller school like South Carolina just isn't the 7th pick overall. Especially in a year where the Vikings passed on Antrel Rolle, Carlos Rogers, Demarcus Ware, and Shawne Merriman. Those 4 came in the next 5 picks, forget the late round surprises that did well. These 4 were known talents, but the Vikings thought they were smarter than everyone else.

I am willing to let this go, I promise not to rant on for the next 20 years about it the way I do about the Herschell Walker deal. In return I want only one thing from the Vikings. Don't try and hit a home run in the draft this year; just take the best guy out there. When the Vikings took Randy Moss inspite of the issues that had cause him to drop that worked out. When they got Adrian Peterson because of his durability questions it seemed to work. So just take the best guy on the board, everytime you go for the surprise it seems as though us fans are the ones who are surprised, and not pleasently.

Jacksonville Jaguars Offseason

The Offseason plans of the Jacksonville Jaguars are somewhat cloudy. The Jags reached a level of success that the team can be somewhat satisfied with. It is hard to look back at the final game against the Patriots and then say "we have this deficiency and that deficiency".

If the Jaguars have a need it is probably at defensive end. With Reggie Hayward's injuries seem to linger enough to hold him back last season he will be a big question mark. Bobbie McCray will be a free agent and may draw more from a free agency pool that is light on defensive end, than the Jags are willing to pay to keep him . They also need to resign Grady Jackson but since that is likely, it will probably be the DE that they address in the Draft.

A likely prospect is Calais Campbell(DE-Miami). Campbell is a giant physical prospect at 6'8" 280 lb. which could be intriguing to a defensive team like Jacksonville. While he didn't really perform up to expectations in his final season at Miami, it is likely that a leader like Head Coach , Jack Del Rio, would see him as someone he could bring that potential out of.

Jack Del Rio is also in interesting part of this equation. With his former career as the Linebacker and play caller on the field for the teams he was on. Del Rio seems to have his hand in the defense of former defensive coordinator Mike Smith. With Smith now having moved on to become the head coach of the Falcons in Atlanta. It will be interesting to see if Del Rio will take a stronger hand in the defense or if he will bring in a defensive coordinator that has a little bigger presence than Mike Smith.

In either case the Jags look like they are a strong contending team for the near future. As long as they continue the upward mobility that they have shown over the last few seasons. So long as they don't rest on the success that they have enjoyed.

See Other Offseason Breakdowns

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