Trent Edwards – Yet another bad decision

Is it just me or does anyone else feel Gene Smith is flailing away these days and driving Jacksonville into the bottom of the NFL?

Trent Edwards was not liked by either the fans or the players in Buffalo. He plays a very conservative game with questionable judgement. It has been said the won’t throw the ball more than 10 yards. His last play as a Buffalo Bill was 4th and 11 and he ran out of bounds after 6 yards. The people in Buffalo turned off the television rather than watch him play. If you are frustrated with David Garrard dumping off, wait until you see Trent Edwards play.

But the Trent Edwards move isn’t all I refer to. Sign Michael Coe, keep Michael Coe, cut Gerald Alexander, cut Michael Coe, sign Gerald Alexander. Sign Ernest Wilford, cut Ernest Wilford, sign Ernest Wilford, cut Ernest Ernest Wilford. Is anyone happy with the secondary we have? Peyton Manning and Matt Schaub are. David Jones is our best hope back there other than Rashean Mathis who got the cold shoulder at a contract discussion. 

According to Profootballfocus after three weeks the best Defensive Tackle in football is Kevin Williams of Minnesota. The second best is John Henderson of Oakland. The third is Haloti Ngata of Baltimore and the fourth is Derek Landri of Carolina.  Tyson Alualu is making a case for rookie of the year but who is our backup for Terrance Knighton? Terrance Knighton has been on the field for 133 snaps this year. Tyson Alualu has seen 167 snaps this year.  John Henderson has seen 56 snaps. Couldn’t John Henderson have been used as a rotational guy? Derek Landri was dismissed as not worthy of a spot, so was John Henderson. I don’t believe that. The Carolina Panthers are playing good defense and Derek Landri is contributing a lot.

Another confusion is for me is the part time usage of Derrick Harvey. In the Philadelphia game Larry Hart played as many snaps as Derrick Harvey did. Larry Hart is quickly becoming a starter while Derrick Harvey gets the “Shack treatment”. Are we starting a Gene guy and punishing a Shack guy? I’ve seen that before.

David Jones is our starting cornerback. Where is Tyron Brackenridge? In 2009 Profootballfocus rated Tyron Brackenridge the 33rd best corner in football. This was out of 107 cornerbacks who saw considerable game action. David Jones is not the 33rd best cornerback in football. Right now, he is the 89th best corner. William Middleton, our other cornerback, is seeing more game time than Tyron Brackenridge.

To me the Jacksonville Jaguars are acting in a very suspicious and curious mode. They seem to be getting rid of players that have ability in order to see if some of these unproven players have something to offer. Trent Edwards is not the savior of the Jaguars. John Henderson was not used up. Derek Landri was not worthless, Derrick Harvey should not be riding the bench and Tyron Brackenridge should not relegated to special teams. Right now, Quentin Groves is playing outside linebacker better than Justin Durant.

You tell me what you see. What I am seeing is an accumulating pile of evidence that talent evaluation and player judgement is seriously flawed in our team. Trent Edwards only seems to be more evidence that the Jaguars are cycling downward. Are we playing for the number one draft choice?

– Terry O’Brien