Football's Biggest Bounce-Back Players
By LARRY JOSEPHSON
There are plenty of questions marks heading into the NFL season – none bigger than Tom Brady’s knee. But there are other players and units on the comeback trail this season. Teams are counting on these talents to return to form and so are football bettors.
Roy Williams, Dallas Cowboys
It’s time to find out if this is the guy who in 2006 caught 80 balls for 1,310 yards and earned a spot in the Pro Bowl, or the dog who had a deer-in-the-headlights look after being traded to the Cowboys. Despite Terrell Owens drawing double-teams much of the time, Williams managed only 19 catches for less than 200 yards and only one touchdown in nine games in Dallas.
With Owens playing his home games in Buffalo now, the spotlight will pivot toward Williams. He will have the benefit of a full training camp, he will have a Pro Bowl quarterback throwing balls his way, he is on a team with an above-average running game and, for the first time in his career, he will not have to learn a new system.
The tools are there. Williams is 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds. At 27, he should be in the prime of his career. There is much money to be made in Dallas if he can stretch the defense enough to open things up for the running game and underneath stuff to Jason Witten.
Did the Cowboys overspend (1st-, 3rd and 6th-round draft choices) for a guy who has never had a rep for working hard and had only one good season? They are about to find out.
Shawne Merriman, San Diego Chargers
There’s a lot on Merriman’s mind as he enters 2009.
No one really knows if his injured left knee is fully recovered, because the Chargers held him out of OTAs in the spring. He’ll likely play the season in the final year of his contract as the team sees if he is back to 100 percent. But one thing is for certain – the linebacker has been ticked off since April 25, when the Chargers hedged their bets big-time by drafting a player and projecting him at Merriman’s position.
Merriman says he has calmed down since the Chargers spent the 16th overall pick on Northern Illinois DE Larry English and announced their intention of moving English to linebacker with the idea of improving a pass rush that was almost non-existent in 2008. And Merriman adds that he is not concerned about playing the season without a long-term contract. Yet you have to wonder what was going through his mind as he sat out those OTAs and watched English get extra reps at his position.
Merriman has been the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, made three Pro Bowls, been an All-Pro and the league’s sack leader. Yet as training camp starts in the next few weeks, there are more questions than answers.
Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Seahawks
The stars are not lining up for Hasselbeck. The veteran will turn 34 this season and will be playing for a new head coach, new offensive coordinator and in a new system that emphasizes the run. Bloggers in Seattle are clamoring for the team to start developing someone to take over at quarterback, and did we mention that no one really knows for certain if he is 100 percent recovered from knee, head and back injuries that short-circuited his 2008 season?
Things were so bad in Seattle last season that Hasselbeck had trouble moving the team even before injuries hit him in Week 5. Seattle’s 0-4 start was made all the more depressing because Arizona got out of the blocks so quickly.
There is an opening in the NFC West. If Hasselbeck (who has looked sharp in practices so far) stays upright and the new administration gets things together quickly, the Seahawks could fend off the Cardinals and 49ers in a three-horse race. Without a healthy Hasselbeck, it’s more cold porridge for fans in the Northwest.
Steven Jackson, St. Louis Rams
The Rams need Jackson to move the chains and keep their horrible defense off the field. So Jackson will get a ton of carries, especially early in games when the Rams are competitive. But the more Jackson carries the ball, the greater the chance he’ll get hurt. And when he’s on the sidelines, the Rams have no chance.
Jackson has always looked great carrying the ball - so good that he annually burns naïve fantasy league players who draft him high, only to see him miss several games. Jackson has played a full season only once and in 2007 and 2008 he missed a total of eight games.
If you’re a conspiracy theorist, consider that over his career Jackson is a far better runner on artificial turf (4.5 yards per carry) than on grass (3.9). The four games he happened to miss last season were all on grass (at New England, at New York Jets, at San Francisco and at Chicago).
Jackson defenders respond by pointing out that he had four straight 1,000-plus yard season, including 1,042 last season for a team on which he was the only viable offensive option. He probably has at least one more season as a lead back before the Rams follow many other teams and start thinking about a two-back system.
Offensive line, Detroit Lions
Rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford (assuming he starts right away) will have a head left by October if the Lions O-Line doesn’t do a better job than last season. Stafford says that so far he likes what he sees of the offensive line. But the worst high school O-Line in the country can look good blocking air.
This group, which added a few new faces, needs to improve by at least 50 percent if it wants to keep Stafford out of traction for the holidays.
The Lions were 30th in the league running the ball last season - a stat which wouldn’t bother pass-happy former offensive coordinator Mike Martz but does concern new head coach Jim Schwartz. He hopes to run the ball at least enough to give Stafford a breather between sacks.
Center Dominic Raiola and tackle Gosder Cherilus appear locked in tight and newcomer Jon Jansen will start at right tackle. But there’s uncertainty at left tackle, where longtime starter Jeff Backus has raised eyebrows by giving up 30 sacks over the last three seasons. Backus was no doubt relieved on draft day when the Lions used a high pick to take tight end Brandon Pettigrew, a solid blocker. Expect Pettigrew to help out Backus a lot until the Lions can sort things out on the offensive line.