Is there any professional sport with more bonehead players than football? Ben Roethlisberger, Santonio Holmes, Vince Young... the list could fill this page. Now we can add San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson to the list. In Jackson's defense, his claim to idiocracy did not end with an arrest or accusation, nor did it end in a strip club or bar. Like so many sports stars, he simply wants more money to play a game most would play for free given the opportunity.
I'm not knocking the guy. Really. He has a right to seek fair pay for his talents, and based on his job as number one wide receiver on a team many had slated as a potential Superbowl team in 2010, he does deserve his payday. Unfortunately, Jackson didn't cave to the Chargers front office and he refused to sign his RFA tender. This means no Jackson for fantasy teams this season. At least not until it's too late to matter.
That's right, it's all about us, the fantasy GMs. Of course the team gets hurt as does their fan base, but really, all we care about is who is putting points on the boards for us. Is that so wrong? Am I being selfish here to think Jackson should have signed to keep fantasy players happy?
So we'll just pretend he had a terrible injury and look elsewhere.
So now who do we look to in San Diego for our receiving talent?
Tight end, Antonio Gates gets a bit of an uptick as QB Philip Rivers will rely on him more than ever. He's currently ranked at #3, so this may boost him to that #2 spot.
Wide Receiver Malcolm Floyd did not even make our initial Top 70 WR rankings, but he makes a huge jump to #25 as he now becomes the team's #1 guy. Last season he had 45 receptions for 776 yards. He wasn't that far behind Jackson, except in the TD department where he only hauled in one to Vincent's nine.
The team also signed veteran WR Josh Reed, who comes over from the Buffalo Bills.
Then there's Legedu Naanee who hauled in 24 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns in 2009, despite starting only one game. He could be one of this year's new sleeper targets for fantasy leagues.
This also means the team will expect even more of rookie running back Ryan Mathews, and veteran Darren Sproles.
And finally, we can't ignore the possibility that Terrell Owens will likely spend time in the rumors and speculation department as a potential landing spot. T.O. is looking for a one year deal on a Superbowl contender. This could be just what he's looking for, but would the Chargers feel the same?
