With all the recent trade talk involving Vincent Jackson from the San Diego Chargers to the Washington Redskins, I decided to look a little further into the stud wide receiver's career stats and accomplishments. As it usually takes 2-3 years for an NFL wide receiver to make an impact in the league, I wanted to see if Jackson has followed the status quo, or if he has bucked the trend.
His stats are after the jump.
| Year | Team | G | Rec | Yds | Avg | Yds/G | Lng | TD | 20+ | 40+ | 1st | FUM |
| 2009 | San Diego Chargers | 15 | 68 | 1,167 | 17.2 | 77.8 | 55 | 9 | 17 | 4 | 58 | 0 |
| 2008 | San Diego Chargers | 16 | 59 | 1,098 | 18.6 | 68.6 | 60 | 7 | 16 | 7 | 52 | 1 |
| 2007 | San Diego Chargers | 16 | 41 | 623 | 15.2 | 38.9 | 45 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 28 | 0 |
| 2006 | San Diego Chargers | 16 | 27 | 453 | 16.8 | 28.3 | 55 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 19 | 0 |
| 2005 | San Diego Chargers | 8 | 3 | 59 | 19.7 | 7.4 | 21 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 71 | 198 | 3,400 | 17.2 | 47.9 | 60 | 25 | 52 | 14 | 160 | 1 | |
Vincent Jackson was a second round draft choice (61st overall) of the San Diego Chargers in the 2005 NFL Draft.
Sound familiar? Didn't the Washington Redskins have TWO WR's selected in the 2nd round of the 2008 Draft?
Below are is 2005 NFL combine stats:
| Pre-draft measureables | |||||||||
| Weight | 40 yd | 20 ss | 3-cone | Vert | BP | Wonderlic | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 241 lb (109 kg)* | 4.49s | 4.08s | 6.84[1] | 39 in (99.1 cm)* | 23 | 33*[2] | |||
Jackson got off to a slow start in 2005 due to injuries. He was inactive for the first five games of the season and finally saw his first NFL action in an October 16th game against the Oakland Raiders. He caught his first pass on November 6th against the New York Jets, but he would only catch two more passes for the rest of the season.(Wikipedia)
If i'm not mistaken, didn't the Redskins have a receiver named Malcolm Kelly who got off to a slow start his rookie year due to injuries?
To be fair to our two 3rd year wideouts, Malcolm Kelly and Devin Thomas, let's compare their stats thus far in their careers.
Malcolm Kelly:
6' 4" 227
40 time - 4.57
| Season | Team | Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||
| G | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FUM | Lost | ||
| 2009 | Washington Redskins | 16 | 10 | 25 | 347 | 13.9 | 84 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2008 | Washington Redskins | 5 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 6.0 | 7 | 0 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| TOTAL | 28 | 365 | 13.0 | 84 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
Devin Thomas:
6'2" 215
40 time - 4.38
| Season | Team | Receiving | Rushing | Fumbles | |||||||||||
| G | GS | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | FUM | Lost | ||
| 2009 | Washington Redskins | 14 | 10 | 25 | 325 | 13.0 | 40 | 3 | 3 | -2 | -0.7 | 2 | 0 | -- | -- |
| 2008 | Washington Redskins | 16 | 1 | 15 | 120 | 8.0 | 18 | 0 | 3 | 53 | 17.7 | 29T | 1 | -- | -- |
| TOTAL | 40 | 445 | 11.1 | 40 | 3 | 6 | 51 | 8.5 | 29 | 1 | 0 |
0 |
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Besides the touchdown's, the production of Thomas and Kelly don't look too different from that of Vincent Jackson during his first 2 yeras in San Diego. All three of the receivers mentioned are at least 6'2" and 215 lbs; pretty large in comparison to NFL standards. What needs to be pointed out is that Jackson played his first 2 seasons under head coach Marty Schottenheimer. Thomas and Kelly, on the other hand, played their first 2 season under head coach Jim Zorn. Think that makes a difference? Apparently, even Marty recognized the mismatch Jackson could cause in the redzone, hence the 6 TD catches his second year. Zorn, on the other hand, chose to try the fake FG approach that has now become infamous with his demise.
My point here needs to be noted. I'm not saying that we have the next Vincent Jackson on the Redskins in either Malcolm Kelly or Devin Thomas. I am, however, comparing their stats for the first two season of their careers, and have noticed a parallel.
So take this for what it is worth. Don't be so quick to look over what we already have on our football team. The grass might not always be greener on the other side of the fence. Trading away our future for something we may already have seems too risky for me.
Those fans out there who say Malcolm Kelly should be released due to his poor productivity over his first two seasons, should take a step back, reconsider their feelings, and be open to giving this player a true chance, under a real head coach, because you just never know what he can turn out to be.