Jags confident Porter will be ready for season … but don’t count on it

Posted By Matt Severance on Friday, July 25th 2008 under: NFL

The Jacksonville Jaguars have struggled for years to find a dependable wide receiver, so they signed underachieving Raiders wideout Jerry Porter this offseason in hopes he would be the No. 1 they have been looking for since Jimmy Smith’s retirement.

Whether the Jags should count on a former malcontent as Porter is one thing, but they won’t know what they have until the season begins, at a minimum, as Porter is expected to miss 6-8 after undergoing surgery last week to repair a hamstring tendon that has been slow to heal.

The Jaguars are hopeful that Porter will be ready for the season opener at Tennessee, but hamstring injuries tend to take a while to heal. Porter himself said he wasn’t going to rush back from the injury because hamstring problems tend to linger.

“Jerry had a successful surgical repair to a hamstring tendon that had continued to bother him,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “We expect a complete recovery in time for the regular season.”

Porter, 30, initially suffered the hamstring injury during an offseason practice in May, and it was diagnosed as a strain. He signed a six-year deal worth more than $30 million at the start of free agency. He has 284 catches for 3,939 yards and 59 touchdowns in eight NFL seasons, all with Oakland, although he basically quit on one season.

Without him, the Jaguars will open camp with a somewhat lackluster receiving corps featuring Reggie Williams, Dennis Northcutt, Troy Williamson, Mike Walker and Matt Jones. Williams will move up to the No. 1 spot in Porter’s absence, while Northcutt will likely be No. 2.

Williamson, the former Viking, has been a surprise this spring, so that may soften the blow of losing Porter if he misses any regular-season games. Jones, meanwhile, might have been saved by Porter’s surgery. Jones was arrested for cocaine possession a few weeks ago and it was thought that the team would cut him loose, but Del Rio says the Jags are standing by him for now. Let’s see if they continue to do that when they have a full group of healthy receivers.