H
HardRightEdge
Guest
While NFL football in general is a dangerous occupation, returning punts and kickoffs are the most dangerous jobs. That should always be the starting point and the backdrop that runs throughout the dicussion.
Again, it boils down tto the following plausible options:
Punt returns: Davis, Cobb or Alexander
KO returns: Davis or Montgomery.
Let's break down those 3 Davis alternatives.
Montgomery may look like the most plausible option. He might be viewed as the #3 RB or a matchup option out of the slot. This overlooks something. Odds are Jones is staring down the barrel of suspension:
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...es-pleads-no-contest-marijuana-related-charge
That you have not heard anything yet on the matter is no "all clear":
"Jones could still be subject to a suspension from the NFL, but the league wasn't expected to act until the legal case was resolved" which, as the article states, wasn't resolved until the end of February. Jones is probably in "the program" as we speak. Similar incidents for a first violations often earn a 2 game suspension. That elevates Montgomery to #2 RB and not the cannon fodder one might think. Then there's the prudence of building a roster where Montgomery is relied up to be your 16 game kick returner who has been injury prone throughout his pro career. Further, even if Jones somehow evades a suspension, he only got a smattering of carries after coming back from the MCL sprain last season. In college he had one on the other knee. Availability and possibly degraded performance are open issues leaving open the possibility that Montgomery would be the #2 even after that possible suspensiion.
Cobb's history as a punt returner is fairly typical among high pick/front line players who take the job in their first couple of years. Pat Peterson is another example. They do great for a year or two then start to slide. Why might that happen? There are a couple of possibilities. Youthful enthusiam in earning their bones wanes as their position bones are earned. The demands of position play over a long season or two wears on that enthusiasm. They start eyeing that second contract and business decisions come into play. And once you start looking around for core and star players in second contracts being regular punt or KO returners, they get increasingly hard to find. They may have achieved the status to say, "I'd rather not" either from lost enthusiam or protecting the unguaranteed money. I do not see Cobb returning punts except as an injury backup. And while I'd expect him to be serviceable at this stage, how many chances do you think he'd take in a contract year?
That leaves Alexander, a rookie, a high pick with high expectations, in the vein of Cobb and Peterson coming in. And as noted above, he's the only young player with any college punt return experience to suggest he can do the job. From that perspective it makes sense. But I don't like that idea for the same reason I don't like Alexander playing nickel corner. Alexander is a particularly aggressive player of slighter stature. You don't want to stifle that aggressiveness. Experience will teach him how to pick his spots against bigger/stronger/faster opponents. Put him an nickel instead of perimeter and the likelihood he takes on punishment from RBs, FBs, H-backs and OLs goes up. Putting that aggressive disposition in that frame returning punts and you have a high risk proposition.
I won't say the Packers won't try Alexander on punts. I'd actually expect they will in camp if for no other other reason than to have an emergency backup option for Davis that is not named Cobb. But I won't have to like it.
And just think...with Janis gone, it's now 1 WR postion dedicated to special teams duty instead of 2. Win, win, right?
