(The Bad) Dexter Jackson Better Catch
May 5th, 2009
By any sane judgement, (the bad) Dexter Jackson had a horrible rookie season last year. His greatest attribute as a return man seemed to be running backwards, which is not the approved method in football unless one is throwing a game.
Based on the emergence of Clifton Smith, former Bucs beat writer and current SI.com columnist Don Banks writes that if Jackson doesn’t learn to catch the ball, he will likely be driving a beer truck or serving as a bouncer for his next job.
The Bucs spent the 58th pick overall of last year’s draft on Jackson, and he was expected to revitalize Tampa Bay’s kickoff and punt return units and play a reserve role as a receiver. But he struggled on returns in the season’s first seven games, and wound up losing that job to Clifton Smith, who made the Pro Bowl as the NFC return man. Jackson was inactive for Tampa Bay’s final nine games last season, and if he doesn’t earn a spot on the Bucs receiving depth chart in training camp, he could be an ex-Buc before September arrives.
In Joe’s eyes this guy is gone. Even Chucky admitted he may have reached for Jackson in the draft last year. If he was worth anything as a receiver, Chucky would have gotten him on the field.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
He did catch a quick slant in preseason for a nice gain…..other than that we beter have our fingers crossed.
He appears to be a retro smurf WR…don’t know if there is a place for that role anymore in the modern NFL
May 5th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Well i believe he´s out the door as well as brian g. It´s just a matter of time, maybe he´ll land on the practice squad but nothing more than that.
It goes to show the ability that gruden/allen had to evaluate talent, jet another to the draftbust and trust me under this new puppet regime there´ll be more to come!!
I bet Jake Cuttler is looking really nice right now.. this clowns have no clue what so ever on how to draft, so the 2 numer 1’s are going to be wasted anyway.. might as well gotten some proven young pro bowler… 50% of the pics that would have landed cuttler here have already gone to waste (j.freeman).
May 5th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
His career highlight will be being a part of the App State team that beat Michigan. Maybe we can get a 7th round pick for him instead of just releasing him.
May 6th, 2009 at 7:21 am
“In Joe’s eyes this guy is gone. Even Chucky admitted he may have reached for Jackson in the draft last year. If he was worth anything as a receiver, Chucky would have gotten him on the field.”
”
You mean like Chucky did with Joey Galloway??