Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

18 Jul 2008

Porter's Hamstring to Keep Him Out Through Preseason

The refurbished Jacksonville receiver corps is looking more and more vulnerable. Not long after Matt Jones got pinched in that Arkansas nose candy debacle (Jones is probably the only person in the world grateful for all the Brett Favre coverage right now), the word comes down that newly acquired wideout Jerry Porter, formerly of the Raiders, has undergone surgery to repair a hamstring injury that hasn't recovered well. The Jags signed Porter to a six-year contract worth more than $30 million in the offseason with the idea that he could be the true #1 receiver David Garrard didn't have last year. Now, Garrard and Porter won't be working together on the field until at least the first game of the regular season.

Posted by: Doug Farrar on 18 Jul 2008

23 comments, Last at 22 Jul 2008, 8:44am by iapetus

Comments

1
by Raiderjoe (not verified) :: Fri, 07/18/2008 - 11:53pm

jaguars problem now. Raiders fix WRs corspe. Good solid part of team again.

2
by MidwestMike (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 12:07am

Now if the Raiders WR corps could only fix Al Davis' corpse...

3
by mercury (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 3:50am

wow. raiderjoe not only wins the thread, he should be nominated for post of the year.

4
by Theo, Netherlands (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 7:56am

Gerrard also didn't practice with the first team when Leftwich was still the starter.

5
by Mike (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 9:29am

Is he good? I honestly have no idea.

6
by Alex (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 1:08pm

#5 is right - it's important to remember through all of this that Jerry Porter probably sucks.

7
by Rollo (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 4:33pm

This is a big blow. Even if Porter comes back for the regular season, he won't be in tune with Garrard, and will probably have nagging hammy issues the whole season. This is a big opportunity for Mike Walker - now we all hope he can stay healthy. If not, then let the Williamson/Jones reclamation projects begin! (runs to corner and begins to sob)

8
by Tom D (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 4:50pm

Re 5:

Once upon a time he was a very good #2 receiver. Since then he has been stuck in the black hole of suck known as the Raider's offense. A very good #2 is a lot better than any receiver the Jag's had last year, so if he's healthy and returns to form, he should help a lot.

9
by DefJam (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 6:44pm

I think raiderjoe probably a pseudonym for an FO writer. He's clearly not serious.

10
by PaulH (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 7:52pm

I do think this is a pretty big loss, and not because he'll miss out on all of the "chemistry" by working out with Garrard in camp.

The problem is that he is already going to miss all of the pre-season, and it could be much worse than that. Hamstrings are recurring injuries that take a long time to completely recover from. It certainly won't help that Porter will miss out on all of camp and the pre-season, but I think more importantly than that, he might miss some time in the regular season, and even if not he's probably not going to be able to play at 100%. For a kid counted on being as the #1 receiver, and one who the jury was very much out on in the first place, that's a huge concern.

I think this is a pretty big hit for the Jags.

11
by Raiderjoe (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 11:06pm

re9
Not fake name for a writer. Just a fan of football who thinks Jerry Porter is not good anymore. Good player on 2002 great Raders team. not good in recent years. team fix Wr corspe with draft (Schillens and Schields) and free agency signings (Walker and the other one- 2 drunk to rmembver). And rest of team really shapinf up nicley for the return or playofofs. in 2008 Raiders, Chargers, Pates, Brown,s Clts, make playoffs and some othr tema nobody can say for sure for hat one but other 5s are solid picks if you know about football and look at roosters and scheudles and coahcing rosters.

12
by Raiderjoe (not verified) :: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 11:40pm

Reguklar Season get here soon. Cant wait for Raiders to start winning again and also becuause I dont have to read posts by guys like def Jasm Probably not even really named Jim anyway. Raiders definitely going to playoffs anybody who doesnt see that is blind.
Wish there was more threrads here but still offseaosn. preasons games starting soon so more therads there will be.
Do paxckers play in first game vs Browns maybe.
Quinn sucks Raiders make better Qb pick in 2007 draft
Going to Taco Bell now for some carbs and do a little drinkin of the Sierra Nevavda pale ale on the way home

13
by Raiderjoe (not verified) :: Sun, 07/20/2008 - 1:24am

didnt mean to sya I wa s dirnking sierrs naevas on way home. was actially drinking it when I got home from taco Bell. foog good to eat while posting here. football is gerat

14
by Raiderjoe (not verified) :: Sun, 07/20/2008 - 1:25am

mesage to the board- drinking and diriving is wrong

15
by masoch (not verified) :: Sun, 07/20/2008 - 2:07am

Drinking and typing on the other hand?

Epic Win.

and some others

16
by Tom D (not verified) :: Sun, 07/20/2008 - 2:47am

drinking and diriving is wrong

So don't do any calculus while drunk?

17
by Theo, Netherlands (not verified) :: Sun, 07/20/2008 - 9:51am

enjoy Raiderjoe while you can! He'll hug a tree with his car very soon.
Heard here first.

18
by sam! (not verified) :: Sun, 07/20/2008 - 4:35pm

To those who say the loss is huge and Porter is largely unpoven... you can't have it both ways.

To those who say the Jags have lost their #1 receiver, therefore it's a huge loss: that's simply not true. They played all of last year without a reliable deep threat or a true #1 receiver and went toe-to-toe with one of the most prolific offenses FO's ever seen. THE OFFENSE IS NOT THE PROBLEM. Newsflash: The Jags' offense was good last year (not great, but good). Their DEFENSE was MEDIOCRE. The loss of Paul Spicer, Reggie Hayward, or Derrick Harvey would be much bigger. The loss last preseason of rookie free safety Reggie Nelson was HUGE, IMO, because he played a few snaps in the first preseason game adn that was IT until the regular season. He ended up way behind and good QBs took advantage. A lot.

19
by t.d. (not verified) :: Mon, 07/21/2008 - 2:37am

I don't think it's much of a problem. My only concern is that it seems like a bad signing- too much money for a real question mark. Rollo is right, there was nothing wrong with the offense last year. I also think Reggie Williams is better than people think.

20
by iapetus (not verified) :: Mon, 07/21/2008 - 7:50am

@4: Gerrard didn't practice with the first team when Leftwich was the starter because he's a midfielder for Liverpool, playing the version of football that you know as 'soccer'. He'd make a terrible quarterback.

Garrard did get some time with the first team, particularly when it became clear he was making a push to become the starter. He'd also spent half of the previous season playing with them.

@18: I'd disagree with a blanket claim that the offence wasn't the problem. Sure, the defence (and particularly the lack of pressure on the QB) was the main issue through last season, but I'd like to see the offence perform to the level it should be able to, and an improvement in the passing game is key to that. Porter was supposed to be part of that improvement.

@7: While I've pretty much given up on Matt Jones now, there's still some hope for Williamson. He'll need to continue to deliver his offseason performance well into the regular season to convince me, though, which is the one thing he's failed to do in Minnesota.

21
by Whelk (not verified) :: Mon, 07/21/2008 - 12:50pm

I don't necessarily agree that Gerrard would make a terrible quarterback. While he doesn't have the greatest field awareness ever, he's got good pace, and a rocket foot. If we transfer that to a rocket arm, I could see him being like a more athletic Kyle Boller, but with great leadership skills. That might be a bad QB, but not a terrible one.

I think that this is a problem for the Jags, but not a huge one. The offense has shown that it can move the ball without Porter, and I think that the Jags can afford to bring him in to provide a spark whenever he's ready. The defense is more of a question mark. I think that the secondary will improve over a somewhat disappointing showing, but the line may regress.

22
by brandon (not verified) :: Mon, 07/21/2008 - 3:42pm

O man what will the Jags do? I guess they'll have to be content with playing how they did without Porter last year and that was being 11-4 before resting starters...

RAIDERJOE... are you serious? or are you really that mentally challenged? the raiders arent going to the playoffs buddy, and I hope you dont drink yourself to death after the first 4 games of the season all being losses for you... And the jags are about as big of a lock going into the playoffs this year as possible.

Way to sound intelligent tho!

23
by iapetus (not verified) :: Tue, 07/22/2008 - 8:44am

@21: The problem is that years of soccer training will have developed within Gerrard the tendency to dive to the ground waving at the ref whenever a defender comes within a foot of him. While this may work in the Premier League, it's going to have unpleasant consequences in the NFL.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
To skip this, please log in.