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The Oakland Raiders are heading into a bye week and at 5-4 have reason for excitement. They are currently on a three-game winning streak. In their last three games, the Silver and Black has outscored opponents by 115-37. The average rushing yards per g…
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!
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The NFL season is only three weeks away, and all 32 teams are making strides in during NFL training camps and pre-Season.
Aside from the Cincinati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys, every team has begun preparation for its second pre-season match up.
The point? Well, it should be all about the rookies and veteran backups looking to climb up on the depth chart, and in some cases, making a roster.
It should not be for the starters playing a full half, and risking injury.
Unless it is a rookie starter taking the field, head coaches everywhere should be extra cautious to play their starters more than a few series.
Apparently Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants didn’t get the memo. Yes, maybe the Giants were opening the new stadium against the rival Jets, and wanted to bring some excitement.
Giants starting quarterback Eli Manning took a gushing blow to the head on Monday night.
Yes, there might have been a mix up between Manning and Brandon Jacobs on the play selection. However, it was a few minutes into the second quarter, when the injury occurred. This injury surely put all Giants fans in panic.
In the end, Manning got multiple stitches to the head, and is out of action for this week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
This action should have never happened. It wasn’t necessary. Manning doesn’t need all of the playing time this early in the pre-season. With training camp in full force, plus three more pre-season games, starters have plenty of time to get chemistry down in live action.
Putting starters out for more than a quarter, especially in the first pre season game, is a big red flag. Though the injury isn’t anything major, anything could have happened on that play, and would have made it much worse.
We have seen starters in this league already receive serious injuries. Baltimore Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth and Denver Broncos pass rusher Elvis Dumervil are both going to likely miss the entire season ( Dumervil isn’t officially ruled out).
And I can promise you, more devastating injuries will be coming. Though the pre-season has it’s positive moments, it can also be detrimental to your team for the entire season.
There is a reason players ask every year to slim down on the amount of pre-season games. They don’t want to waste their bodies in meaningless games, especially when they are giving it their all with teammates in training camp.
But the starters don’t have to make that happen. We saw undrafted wide receiver Victor Cruz put on a show throughout the game for all Giants fans to see. And that is what you want to see, an undrafted player such as Cruz making his statement to the staff about making the team.
Fans of all 32 teams watch the pre-season to find the hidden games that are within the organization.
The 2010 season will be filled with Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, and more analysis of today’s stars.
Let the pre-season be a time for other players to shine, and most importantly, don’t risk starting players and receive a scare like the Giants did with Eli Manning.
Matt Miselis is an NFL Featured Columnist for BleacherReport.com.
Follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/MattMiselis
Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com
When we look back over all of the crazy things that have happened in the past two years, all of the up and down moments the Denver Broncos faithful have dealt with as fans, and all of mocking and belittling of one of the NFL’s greatest franchises that has come from outside of the organization, today finally brought some level of vindication.
It wasn’t just for Kyle Orton.
His one-year contract extension is, without a doubt, the best news Broncos fans have received within the past two years.
For one, I thought Kyle performed at an extremely high level last season.
I wrote an article in the summer of 2009 that speculated Kyle would have a better season than Jay Cutler, pointing out the richness of weapons in Denver, the better offensive line, and the fact that when you factored in his injury time from 2008, he and Cutler had put up comparable statistics.
With the exception of interceptions, which Cutler will always throw.
The opinion was extremely unpopular, but through the first half of the season, Kyle proved me right.
After that, he suffered another injury that put him out of the game for a short while and/or hindered his ability. Still even with the disturbing injury trend that was building up, I was of the opinion that the Denver Broncos had finally found their man (and thankfully he wasn’t comparing himself to John Elway).
Up until the NFL draft, virtually everyone else felt the same. Sure, bringing in Brady Quinn threatened Orton, but that appeared to be nothing more than finding an actually competent replacement for Chris Simms in case Orton went down again.
After drafting Tim Tebow in late April, I was left extremely confused about the future of the Denver team. I have slowly warmed up to the guy, but still, I couldn’t understand why Orton ‘s presence warranted us spending a first round pick on a quarterback. I thought it was Kyle’s show.
In hindsight, if I was a general manager, I would have spent those picks on building up defensive depth or maybe drafting another round one wide receiver. We could have done both as the Tebow pick amounted to a second, third, and fourth rounder.
But now that the smoke is starting to clear and Josh McDaniels has shown the competition in the offseason yielded a clear cut winner, Denver Broncos fans can breath a bit easier. Tim Tebow will get his chance at a later date, but right now he is exactly what everyone thought he would be.
A quarterback project that needs time to develop. After watching him play last week, I think he is developing just fine.
But Orton, having received such a vote of confidence, is clearly prepared to push himself into the upper tier of NFL quarterbacks. I thought he was heading in that direction last season after shockingly outperforming guys like Tom Brady and Tony Romo.
If his offseason improvements have been as good as everything I’ve heard, Denver will be fine at his position for years to come.
For now, he is the man in Denver. He isn’t going to be flashy but he will get the job done, and that gives hope to a much-maligned offense.
Expect this one year extension to turn into much more than that. Kyle is being paid starter money by the Denver Broncos and the contract is likely short because both sides are waiting to see what happens with the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
After this, Tim Tebow could definitely still dethrone Kyle in time, but it will be an uphill battle. I expect Tebow to eventually start for the Broncos but it will be through a more traditional route involving years of learning and watching the experienced guy in front of him.
Josh McDaniels thinks he can win football games and the results of his offseason competition are finally over in the public eye.
The incumbent Kyle Orton, still disrespected, has won the battle.
Can the Broncos win games under his direction?
Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com
Remember that great quote in Rocky IV? The one where Rock’s trainer, Duke first sees vulnerability in Drago and he gets all excited…
Duke: [to Rocky] “You see? You see? He’s not a machine, he’s a man, he’s a man.”
Unfortunately Broncos fans found out something Gator fans never had to open their eyes to –
Tim Tebow can get hurt.
There’s no reason for Denver fans to get all panicky and run through buildings screaming fire, but there are some concerns you should have going forward.
