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On Thursday it was reported that the Minnesota Vikings were scheduled to workout former Titans and 49ers wide receiver Brandon Jones.
Following up on that report, former Pro Bowl wide receiver, Javon Walker, is also scheduled for a workout today (Friday) for the Vikings.
With the injuries to Sidney Rice (hip) and Percy Harvin (migraine) becoming somewhat of an issue, Minnesota will need depth if the two are expected to miss a certain amount of time.
Currently, Greg Lewis and Bernard Berrian are Minnesota’s two wide receiver’s. Although they are not a terrible duo together, the Vikings clearly need Rice and Harvin back as soon as possible.
Despite neither Jones or Walker being a “big deal” right now, both at one point in their careers were to signed to big contracts.
However, when Brandon signed with the 49ers, he hardly even saw the field. Recently, San Francisco’s front office admitted that they made an incredible mistake when they signed him to a 5-year, $16.5 million deal.
Jones was cut on that very day.
As for Walker, he has definitely received his fair share of ups-and-downs during his eight-year career.
His best season came with the Green Bay Packers in 2004 where he caught 89 balls for 1,382 yards, and 12 touchdowns. Walker was selected to the Pro Bowl that year.
In the first game of the 2005 season, Javon suffered an ACL injury that ended his season and career with the Green Bay Packers.
On April 29, 2006, Green Bay traded Walker to the Denver Broncos for a second-round-pick in that years draft. He signed a five-year deal worth more than $40 million, which included roster bonuses totaling $15 million in 2007 and 2008.
In his first season with the Broncos, Walker recorded 69 receptions for 1,084 yards, and eight touchdowns.
The following year, he managed only 287 yards on 26 catches. With that said, he only played in eight games that year.
On February 29, 2008, the Broncos decided to cut Walker after failing to find a trade-partner for the injury-prone receiver.
Four days later, Javon signed a ridiculous six-year, $55 million deal that included $16 million in guaranteed money with the Oakland Raiders.
Walker rarely ever saw the field with Oakland. Injuries and personal issues caused him to have some of the worst games in his entire career.
He was finally released on March 8, 2010.
Brandon Jones was taken with the 96th overall pick by the Tennessee Titans in the 2005 draft.
In his rookie season with the Titans, Jones totaled 23 catches for 299 yards, and two touchdowns in ten games played, including eight starts.
During his next three years with Tennessee, Brandon recorded 89 receptions for 1,081 yards, and seven touchdowns.
Despite these being very mediocre numbers, San Francisco thought that they had something special when they signed him to a five-year, $16.5 million deal on February 28, 2009.
In his one and only season with the 49ers, Brandon Jones caught a total of one pass.
No, you are not reading that wrong. In eight games, Jones caught just one pass for 18 yards.
It’s safe to say that this is one of the worst free agent signings in NFL history. The mystery of what San Francisco saw in Jones during the 2008 offseason still remains.
On August 18, 2010, Jones was released from the 49ers, like I mentioned earlier in the article.
With Minnesota slightly thin at wide receiver right now it’s really no surprise that they are working-out wide receiver’s.
There’s a great chance that neither Javon Walker or Brandon Jones will make the roster. If I had to guess, I would say that Jones would have the better chance of the two to make the team.
Personally, I don’t feel like either one of these guys is needed whatsoever. Bernard Berrian, Greg Lewis, Logan Payne, and Marko Mitchell should do just fine if Sidney and Percy aren’t healthy anytime soon.
You’ll likely find out how both of their workouts went later on today.
Stay tuned!
Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com
As New England wrapped up week two of the pre-season with a 28-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, Patriot fans have a lot to look forward to.
After watching the game, I came away with a lot of bright signs of what this team did tonight:
5. New England’s Young Secondary
As we all know, the Patriots have a very young and inexperienced defense, but their secondary looked very strong against the Atlanta Falcons. New England’s safety, Patrick Chung, looked very impressive tonight.
Chung recorded four tackles and was very aggressive while playing the strong safety position in week two.
Other young secondary defenders, such as rookie Devin McCourty and Brandon Meriweather also recorded four tackles each and both played aggressive.
4. Establishing The Run
One weakness of the 2009 New England Patriots was their inability to consistently establish the run. During tonight’s game, the Patriots’ run game looked very impressive.
Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris both rushed for over 50 yards while both scoring a touchdown.
New England has a quality core of running backs, but it’s just a matter of finding the right guy at the right time.
New England needs a little bit more balance, and after two games of the pre-season, New England appears to be heading in that direction.
3. Tom Brady Was Efficient
Tom Brady looked great tonight. Brady put up numbers similar to his record breaking season in 2007.
Brady completed 10 out of his 12 passes while throwing one touchdown pass throughout two quarters.
Brady looked very comfortable, and had less pressure on him with the efficient running game. If New England goes more balanced, than Brady will be more efficient.
2. Young Tight Ends
The pair of rookie tight ends, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, along with veteran Alge Crumpler, looked satisfactory tonight.
Gronkowski and Hernandez both scored a touchdown each, and played very well. They both seem to be comfortable with their role on the Patriots’ roster.
I believe that with New England’s new core of tight ends, they add a whole lot more of versatility. And, both are an upgrade from last seasons Ben Watson and Chris Baker.
1. Wes Welker Is Back
Wes Welker played in his first game since injuring his knee back in early January. Welker appeared to be O.K.
He played well, in the short time had played, and snagged two passes from Brady for 20 yards.
It was also good seeing Welker take a strong hit, which knocked him right to the ground, but he got up and showed no sign of pain.
With the improvement of Julian Edelman, Welker and him can become a nightmare for defensive coordinators.
Like what you see? You can read more of Tony’s work and many other sports articles atwww.SportsHaze.com and www.BeantownObserver.com
You can also follow Tony via Twitter @TonySantorsa10
Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com
It was a rough scene watching Giants running back Brandon Jacobs and Eli Manning collide on a play-action miscue, but it was even worse a few seconds later as Jets linebacker Calvin Pace barrelled into his back, sending his helmet flying.
Giants fans could only watch in slow motion as their helmet-less quarterback’s head impacted the face-mask of Jets‘ safety Jim Leonhard.
Eli popped up quickly, motioning for trainers, as his forehead leaked a stream of blood, christening the New Meadowlands Stadium field. With 11 minutes left in the half, Manning was helped back to the locker room for further analysis of the gash.
As it turned out, the injury looked much more brutal than it actually was, proving to be nothing more than a three-inch gash on the passers’ forehead that would require 12 stitches. No concussions and no further injury from the incident have been reported; the X-rays came back negative, and Eli was in good spirits.
On the record, Eli stated, “I feel fine, I feel normal. The play was my fault. We had a run play with an option to throw a fade that I thought I might try, but Brandon was coming right up the middle. Sometimes you make a mistake and you get hit in the head. It’s preseason. You learn from it. I’ll be back as soon as I can. It’s not really an injury. Nothing serious. I feel like I could go back out and play right now if I had to.”
It was likely that the drive would have been Manning’s final one, lined up on the Jet’s five yard line with a third-and-one situation. Before the injury, he completed four of eight passes and racked up 77 yards. The stats may be a bit deceiving, however, as 51 of those yards however came on a last minute shovel pass to Ahmad Bradshaw.
Coach Tom Coughlin indicated that they would further assess the injury at the next practice and ensure that there is no swelling or discomfort under his helmet, but it would be unlikely that any practice would be missed. To ease the minds of Giants‘ fans everywhere, a full recovery is expected quickly.
Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com
New York Giants starting quarterback and younger brother of Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, got pretty bloody in the opening game at new Meadowlands Stadium which pitted both New York teams against each other.
Perhaps in 2014 there will be a “Battle For New York” in a Super Bowl that will be held at the new Meadowlands, but that is a long way off. Last night’s game will have to do for the time being.
Manning got smashed in the face by his own running back Brandon Jacobs and then crushed from the back by Jets lineman Calvin Pace.
During the third and one play, Jacobs thought he was going to get the ball, but instead he made contact with Manning and the hit caused Manning’s helmet to come loose.
Then almost immediately, Pace hit Manning and dragged him to the ground.
It has been said that Manning only has a bad cut and that was from his head hitting against Jet safety Jim Leonhard’s face-mask.
Manning bled for some time and needed 12 stitches to sew up the gash in his head.
This injury will probably not keep Manning out of practices or the lineup for the Giants‘ next preseason contest, but Manning most likely woke up to a bad headache for his head injury on Tuesday morning.
Usually, a football helmet stays put when contact happens, but sometimes, a helmet just isn’t enough to help protect contact from the likes of a 6’4″ and 264 pounds of a running back like Jacobs.
Manning now has a taste of what opposing linebackers feel when trying to bring down Jacobs when he is running with the football.
If you didn’t have a chance to see the hit, then check it out within this article.
Giants fans can relax a bit since this could have been much worse of an injury than it actually was. Manning is lucky to not have sustained a type of concussion due to his head hitting the helmet of another player.
You can bet Manning will be back and ready to play in game two of the regular season, unless head coach Tom Coughlin thinks resting the Pro Bowler is what’s best for his star player. It is only the preseason right now.
Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com
It is awfully easy to get excited about all the moves the Lions made this off season.
Whenever Martin Mayhew wasn’t bringing in a new weapon for Matt Stafford he was adding beef to that defensive line. He even managed to add a defensive back or two and maybe finally filled that hole at Left Guard.
I don’t know if I am more excited about what Jahvid Best, Tony Scheffler and Nate Burleson will do for this offense or what Ndamukong Suh, Corey Williams and Kyle Vanden Bosch will do for the defense.
When we throw Rob Sims and Jason Fox into the mix on the offensive line all we need is some production out of the newcomers like Chris Houston, Jonathon Wade, CC Brown and Dre Bly and this Lion team might surprise a lot of NFL fans.
No position group was ignored, from the quarterbacks with Shaun Hill to special teams with Isaiah Ekejiuba, every unit got an upgrade this year.
The Stafford to Calvin Johnson connection should be in high gear after a full off season of work and second year players like Louis Delmas, DeAndre Levy and Brandon Pettigrew should be better because, well, it’s their second year.
HaMMeR, Hammond and Sudds are giving us great reports on the training camp activities and along with the lesser outlets like M Live and the CBS Rapid Fire we are hearing some pretty nice things about the new guys.
Everybody is gaga over Best and Suh; Burleson and Scheffler look like the real deal and even the CB duo of Houston and Wade are getting good reports.
Then there are those big shit eating grins every time Scott Linehan or Jim Schwartz talk about Stafford. I bet behind closed doors those two are as giddy as a couple of school girls when it comes to his potential.
That’s okay, so am I.
But if this is going to work there are some players we should not forget. They were here last year and most of them have something to prove.
Some of them are coming back from injury and some of them are simply hoping to erase the memories of a bad year.
Some of them are grizzled old veterans and some of them are still young pups—or should I say cubs.
Some of them are trying to remember better years on other teams and some are trying to remove the stench of the Millen years.
Some of them are starters while others are back-ups, but they all will have to play a role somewhere and sometime this year.
The one thing they all have in common?
They can’t wait to prove that this is a good—no make that a damn good football team.
That’s a dream we can all agree on.
