Face Off - Freddie Jones

Inexperience at WR
This could be thought of as a negative, but upon closer examination it appears to be a positive. The Arizona passing will not be stellar, but they will be able to pass for some yardage (even the expansion Texans totaled 2636 passing yards last season). Who will receive all of this yardage for the Cardinals? Gone are David Boston, Frank Sanders, and MarTay Jenkins. The most talented and experienced receiver on the club is Jones. He will be used.

A change at QB
By no means am I saying that Jeff Blake is a better QB than Jake Plummer (but it's close). I am saying that the 2003 version of Blake is more conducive to TE production than was the 2002 version of Plummer. Witness Jones' 2 catches through the first two games of last season. Plummer had never before had a TE of Jones' caliber, and he really wasn't ready to utilize such a talent. Imagine Plummer dropping back, seeing Jones across the middle, and thinking to himself "that guy's too big to be a WR ... he should be in here blocking". OK, maybe that's a stretch, but the point is still valid. In Plummer's entire career (until last season), he never possessed a quality TE. On the other hand, Blake is fresh off of throwing to one of the premier TEs in the league in Todd Heap. No, Jones is not Heap. But Jones is pretty good. He'll get open, and Blake will be looking for him.

Bottom line
In his second year as a Cardinal, look for Jones to up his catch total a bit. It's not a stretch to see Jones catching three or four balls a game this year (nine games last season with 3+ receptions). There's no reason that he shouldn't also return to his normal (pre-2002) average of over 10 yards per catch. Those two factors point to a 50 catch / 550 yard tight end. Throw in a couple scores, and Jones is hovering around the top ten TEs. The only reason he doesn't belong in the top five is the Cardinals will have a tough time scoring this year. That will keep Jones' TD numbers very low.

Low Side by Tom Merrick
For a three year stretch, Freddie Jones was emerging as one of the best pass catching tight ends in the game. He finished each season from 1998 through 2000 with over 600 yards receiving. An ankle injury in 2001 caused this streak to be broken and then "banishment" to the lowly Cardinals really hurt his numbers in 2002 (a career low of 358 yards on 44 catches).

Now that Jake Plummer is gone from the Cardinals, the passing game will be led by journeyman Jeff Blake. Blake has not been able to hold the number one quarterback position for any of the teams he has played for. I consider Blake a downgrade from Plummer, which is not a ringing endorsement for Jones.

In addition, the Cardinals chose to let their top receiver David Boston sign with the San Diego Chargers. Who is the number one wide receiver on Arizona now? Can you name even one wide receiver on Arizona? How about rookies Bryant Johnson and Anquan Boldin? And don't forget Bryan Gilmore. Lack of a threat at the wide-out position means defenses will pay more attention to the short and medium routes over the middle - that's where Jones will be.

Don't forget too that the Cardinals signed Emmitt Smith in the off-season Emmitt will demand a lot of carries so that he can justify that he still has it. This will translate into more blocking assignments for Jones.

When you couple Jones' inconsistency last year with the Cardinals lack of receivers and the signing of Emmitt Smith, I just don't see Jones having a great year again. Even if he was to be the primary target, a duplication of last year's low numbers is possible.