Justin Blackmon’s weird NFL career is likely over
http://www.sbnation.com/2015/8/4/9096059/justin-blackmons-career-jaguars-retirement
Justin Blackmon’s NFL career is likely over. Jaguars GM David Caldwell said so himself, confirming that the team has had no contact with the wideout and that he believes that Blackmon would struggle to come back as the same player after a nearly two-year absence.
“I have not heard anything and I guess I harbor a little bit of hope, but realistically I think when you’re away from the game for two-and-a-half years what you were once is not what you probably will be,” Caldwell said Tuesday. “Your skills do erode and especially if you’re not staying in tip-top shape and you’re not in football shape.”
Blackmon’s career technically remains in stasis. He is still serving an indefinite suspension for a third substance abuse violation he earned after Week 8 of the 2013 season. The Jaguars haven’t cut him. There’s no real need. They don’t have to hold his roster spot or pay him while he is on the reserve/suspended list. If Blackmon is ever reinstated, his contract will be waiting for him with 2 1/2 years left on the four-year deal he signed as a rookie in 2012.
Whether Blackmon wants to return is another issue. Caldwell continued, saying, “I don’t know what to expect, but I would say common sense would probably be if you haven’t played football in two-and-a-half years apparently that’s not a priority for you.” Last we heard about Blackmon, his reinstatement was allegedly denied in May, but there has been conflicting speculation that he never even applied to get back in the league.
Couple that with photos that have surfaced on the Internet of Blackmon appearing out of shape, and it appears that Caldwell is correct. So that would end what was a disjointed, but unbelievably promising start to an NFL career.
Blackmon’s biggest single-game impact came in his rookie season when he scorched the Houston Texans for 236 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions in Week 11. The No. 5 overall pick had been quiet until then. The outburst exemplified what made him special. Though Blackmon’s speed and 6’1 frame were relatively pedestrian by NFL standards, he had an uncanny ability to make space, concentrate and take contact. His 81-yard touchdown was everything Blackmon could have been in one play. He nestled in the middle of three defenders to catch a slightly underthrown pass, then pin-balled out of trouble and ran another 50 yards to the end zone.
After a four-game suspension to open the 2013 season, he picked right back up catching five passes for 136 yards and 14 passes for 190 yards in his first two games. Those three games accounted for 44 percent of his Blackmon’s career receiving yardage in a 20-game career. His final two games weren’t much — 58 yards against the Chargers and 31 yards against the 49ers — and then he was hit with a suspension.
That’s Blackmon’s NFL career in a nutshell, an extraordinary blip to which Blackmon nor the Jaguars feel particularly attached. The apparent end of his career registers as something more than a line item given to a camp casualty and far less than the words that this week’s Hall of Fame inductees have earned. The standard reaction will probably be a succinct and hearty “huh,” which is perhaps only proper to what was one of the weirdest NFL careers of recent memory.
Whatever Blackmon was, it’s not what he is or will be any more.
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Agamemnon
