Jon Gruden needs to utilize Punt Return Man Dexter Jackson

by JScott on Sep 9, 2008 6:31 AM EDT in News Comment 4 comments

In Sunday’s season opener against the New Orleans Saints Punt Return man Dexter Jackson saw all of ’zero’ chances on offense!!! Granted the guy looked nervous and a bit anxious in the return game, but Head Coach Jon Gruden has to do a better job of mixing the 2nd Round Draft Pick into the offense. Each time this guy got the ball in the Pre-Season he picked up 10+ yards on offense. For an offense that is seeking and searching for any spark outside of WR Joey Galloway it doesn’t make any sense to put DJax on the shelf because he’s a Rookie.

Even the Arizona Cardinals, who have WR Anquan Boldin, WR Larry Fitzgerald, and WR Steve Breaston got their 1st Round Draft Pick in CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie into the offense. The ball never reached his hands as it was batted down, but the guy didn’t implode because of it. Also, the Eagles have thrust their 2nd Round Draft Pick in DeSean Jackson into the offensive fold. He finished Sunday’s game with 6 catches for 106 yards, he’s virtually Dexter Jackson’s twin. In college DeSean had 762 yards receiving during his senior year, Dexter had 628 yards. It’s not like Dexter is foreign to being a Wide Receiver in the slot. That was his primary position in College. Not to mention, DJax has been practicing with the Wide Receivers all off-season, so if he’s doing that why not utilize the man?

At this point, I would take reverses, end arounds, screen passes, ANYTHING that would put DJax on offense. He needs to be baptized by fire by taking his lumps in the NFL now! Give him a shot and he may just surprise you. I understand using kid gloves on him as he’s going to be in the league for quite some time, but this team’s window is closing on offense. Heck, Garcia can’t make it week to week without injuring himself. Get DJax into the game now…

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I agree with seeing what he can do, but...

I think we have to be careful with Jackson. DeSean Jackson put up similar numbers again much better competition in college. And what Jackson did in the preseason is pretty much irrelevant. Heck what anyone does in the preseason is pretty much irrelevant. He wasn’t always doing that against the top defenders.

Based on his nearly obvious nervousness during his punt returns, I’m a little scared of inserting him into the offense too much this early. He is a small school project and let’s be honest, most of these don’t work out. Look at the schools the other Bucs’ receivers attended. Ohio State, Florida, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and LSU. I’m not saying Dexter Jackson can’t be a good player in this league, I just think we have to treat him carefully and with a player that hasn’t seen a lot of competition against big time opponents going back to his college career, you can’t always be thrown into the fire right away.

Right now there are a lot of other issues on offense – the line, Garcia, Galloway, etc. – that need to be addressed first in order for the Bucs to be able to succeed this year. We should focus on calming Jackson down during returns first and then slowly implement him into the offense.

Just my thoughts.

by The Bull Gator on Sep 9, 2008 10:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I've got to respectfully disagree my man

There are plenty of Receivers that were thrown into the fray out of
smaller colleges:

Randy Moss (Marshall)
Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State)
Terrell Owens (Tennessee-Chattanooga)
Chad Johnson (Oregon State)
Steve Smith (Utah)
Marvin Harrison (Syracuse)

They’ve all prospered . I’m basically saying we have no clue as to
whether DJax can contribute like the list above and I can’t fathom
throwing games away while we wait for him to “gradually” acclimate to
the NFL game. He either has it or he doesn’t and if he doesn’t, at
worst he continues to contribute in the return game, but at least
we’ll know in the interim….

I’d just like to see all of our weapons deployed.

I also don’t buy into the notion that our o-line is a problem. Garcia
left the pocket a lot on his own accord Sunday. Graham (9.1) and Dunn
(5.6) had great gains behind that same line. I think Garcia gets happy
feet and causes pressure on himself by not stepping up in the pocket
and by holding the ball longer than he should. Obviously the line
wasn’t perfect, but I don’t think its an issue…

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by JScott on Sep 9, 2008 7:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's cool. Disagrements are what make for good discussions.

When it comes to the receivers you named though, I have to throw out Chad Johnson and Marvin Harrison right away. Oregon State isn’t a small school and is in a BCS conference. They play some big schools each year. Syracuse was pretty good until about 6 years ago. They made a few big bowls over the years and historically are a big program. They were in much better shape during Harrison’s time there than they are now.

Randy Moss also has to be taken out of that discussion because the only reason he was at a smaller school was because he had issues with 2 bigger ones. He originally signed with Notre Dame, but they revoked his scholarship offer after he got into a fight during his senior year of high school. He then went to FSU and redshirted there his first year. After failing a drug test, he was booted from the team and then went to Marshall. So he wasn’t a guy who intended to go to a small school. The big boys wanted him, he just proved to be too much trouble off the field for them.

Even Steve Smith is borderline because Utah is still Division 1-A. The gap between 1-A and 1-AA (sorry but I refuse to call them by their stupid new names) is a lot bigger than the gap between 1-A BCS conferences and other 1-A conferences. That’s why it’s such a big deal when a 1-AA gives a 1-A team a run for its money.

I will definitely give you Rice and Owens, but that’s such a small percentage that actually succeed. We also have to consider that when comparing him to a small school player like Rice, Jackson didn’t have a college career even close to what he had. Rice had over 300 career catches in college and went over 100 catches both of his last 2 years. Jackson never caught more than 33 passes in a season. Jackson’s stats are more comparable to Owens’, but the two are very different receivers.

Again I’m not saying Jackson can’t do well. I just think he is more of a project than people think. There is obviously a reason he wasn’t in on offense. He has amazing speed and first thought is he can make some big plays, but I have to believe he’s not ready if he wasn’t in the game just yet. I want him to succeed, but I also want him to be given the chance when he’s ready. Team management and the coaches saw something in him to draft him as high as they did, but they also must know he’s not completely ready yet to not put him in.

by The Bull Gator on Sep 9, 2008 8:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

fair enough

I still would like to see him on offense… forget that he was drafted in the 2nd round, the bucs need speed now and DJax possesses that speed. I still contend if he messes up that he would still continue to be a serviceable Returner

you got me on the Pro WR’ing debate though… although i could rattle off a heck of alot more lesser known small schoolers, but you got me son, you got me

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by JScott on Sep 9, 2008 9:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs