Am I crazy to think that, personal preferences aside, it would be in the best interest of the franchise to cut Driver lose and re-sign Jones? Jones is likely to have better numbers than Driver anyway next season if he comes back, and he will be around for several more years.
I know this isn't a popular stance, but if it comes down to letting Jones go just to keep Driver for one more decent season likely, it would seem to make sense.
Thoughts?
"warhawk" wrote:
Jones can't catch the ball over his shoulder down the sidelines. How is he going to do on those deep crossing routes Driver runs after the first time he gets whacked by a safety over the top?
I am not sold that Jones is the guy to run the routes they ask Driver to run.
"doddpower" wrote:
But really, how many passes did Jones drop all season? I'm pretty sure it was less than 10, and maybe more like 6. I don't have the numbers in front of me right now. Yes, as has been discussed, his drops were huge, but we can't crucify the guy over < 10 drops, IMO. Didn't Nelson once drop 4 passes in one game? Also, I think Driver was the leading "dropper" of the group? I remember a thread discussing this but I can't remember the specific numbers.
Also, it's not that Jones has to take Driver's role explicitly. A combination of Nelson / Jones / Cobb should work just fine, plus with better deep ability. It's a little less black and white than just swapping out a player for a player. We will have more of a committee approach going forward more than likely.
As I said, if the numbers work out and keeping Driver has no effect on losing Jones then that's ideal. I simply wouldn't like to lose a talented, although far from perfect, player for another that will be lucky to be on the team at the start of the 2012 season. I still see room for Jones to improve and contribute for the next 3-4 years fairly significantly, which is more than I can say of Driver.