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WR Vincent Jackson, San Diego Chargers

HT: 6-6, WT: 235, Born: 1-14-1983, College: Northern Colorado, Drafted: Round 2

2008 Projections

2007 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Jackson's statistics look very poor, but he was very close to putting up some very solid numbers against a tough Bears defense. On one of his three receptions, Jackson was taken down at the two yard line following a ten yard pickup. On another target that fell incomplete, Jackson was open in the back of the end zone and leaped to haul in a potential touchdown. Unfortunately for him, the ball was tipped at the last moment and it ended up bouncing harmlessly off of Jackson's shoulder pad. As expected, he was the third most heavily targeted San Diego player after Gates and Tomlinson.

Week 2 - Jackson led the wide receiving corps with four balls for 53 yards.

Week 3 - Jackson's day began well enough, hauling in a 27 yard strike from Philip Rivers down the right sideline early in the contest. Rather than continuing to go to him downfield, however, Jackson was only thrown to once more the entire first half. It wasn't until late in the contest when the team fell behind that they started looking to Jackson regularly again. He made a great diving catch late in the fourth quarter that really showed off his immense athleticism, but he appears to be stuck in a situation right now where he is a great talent but without a tremendous opportunity to make a lot of plays. His stat line of 6-98-1 looks fantastic, but then again the Chargers aren't going to have a ton of games where they throw the ball 36 times. One thing that is apparent at this point is that Jackson does a great job of making the most out of the targets he does get.

Week 4 - Jackson's owners are going to look at his stats and see that he had a respectable 52 yards and was thrown to a good amount (second on the team in targets to Antonio Gates). What they won't see is how Jackson was inches away from a great fantasy output. He dropped a sure 45 yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers late in the game that would have made the score 30-23. The ball was thrown perfectly in stride by Philip Rivers, but Jackson just plain dropped it. Adding that catch to his totals would've given him 97 yards receiving and a long touchdown on the day. Early in the game, he hauled in a 39 yard pass that appeared to be going for a lot more, but he stumbled a bit and was caught from behind before he could really go off to the races. Late in the fourth quarter, Jackson again got wide open behind the defense -- this time in the end zone -- but Rivers badly overthrew him on a corner fade.

Week 5 - Once again, Jackson wasn't very heavily targeted. Yet once again, he came up with a solid fantasy output despite the lack of involvement. Aside from one pass intended for Craig Davis, Jackson was actually the only wide receiver who was even thrown to. And were it not for the opening possession of the second half, his output may have been even smaller. After seeing just one pass in his direction in the first half, Jackson caught two passes during that drive (including a tough 45 yard grab down the seam on second and 33 that helped set up the Gates touchdown. Jackson later added a touchdown of his own, beating Dre Bly to the back corner of the end zone for a wide open score. He still isn't very heavily involved in the offense, but he is making plays when his number is called.

Week 6 - Jackson had been getting limited but fairly regular work in recent weeks, but in this game his opportunities were even fewer and further between. San Diego spread the ball around fairly evenly to its receivers, with no player seeing more than four passes in his direction. The bulk of the offensive gameplan was to make sure RB LaDainian Tomlinson got his touches, and in a game like this there just weren't enough scraps to go around for everyone else. Jackson was thrown to just once in the second half, though it was a deep ball in the end zone.

Week 8 - The arrival of Chris Chambers may not have killed Jackson's value, but it is at best on life support right now. The problem is that right now, Chambers does a lot of the things Jackson does -- only better. So, it could be difficult to have two players filling such a similar role within the same offensive system. Granted, San Diego isn't going to throw the ball a meager eleven times on most days. And there will of course be times when Jackson, as the forgotten man, will be able to get lost downfield because of all the attention being paid to the superstars. But the problem is that those times appear to be hard to see coming, and if this game is any indication of Jackson's role within the offense, it might be time to start worrying.

Week 9 - Jackson's afternoon was littered with lost opportunities. His day was best summed up by a sequence of plays in the second quarter. Jackson had broken free from his defender and was off down the sideline for what should have been a 65 yard touchdown pass. But, the ball was underthrown and knocked away from Jackson at the last moment. Jackson was then whistled for offensive pass interference. And finally, he dropped the third down pass that would've given the team a first down. He didn't make his first reception until late in the third quarter. And he had a hand in one of the biggest plays of the game in a negative way when his illegal motion penalty negated a nice 40 yard reception by Chris Chambers.

Week 10 - Vincent Jackson caught two passes for 28 yards, one of which went for 19 yards over the middle and was the Chargers longest offensive play of the game. He had three targets on the evening, but none of the Chargers receivers were a big part of the gameplan once they jumped out to such a large lead. He was targeted on Rivers' first interception of the game.

Week 11 - With each passing week, it becomes more and more apparent that Jackson's days as a relevant fantasy player for this season are dwindling. He was targeted just four times, and didn't catch his first pass until the first play of the second half. It was also the last pass he would catch all day. He had another drop on his last target of the afternoon, while fellow WR Chris Chambers was targeted ten times and had 93 yards.

Week 12 - Jackson finished second on the team in receiving yards. He had a long catch of 31 yards.

Week 13 - Jackson was far more active than he's been in recent weeks (at least relative to the other receivers), though it isn't necessarily reflected in the statistics. While he did haul in the only passing touchdown on the day for San Diego, it was also his only reception of the game. He should have had a second touchdown on a flea flicker, but QB Philip Rivers never saw him streaking down the middle of the field wide open and instead opted to throw to TE Antonio Gates in double coverage.

Week 14 - Slowly but surely, Jackson is re-entering the San Diego gameplan as a weapon in the passing game. After several extremely quiet games, Jackson is being looked to in big spots. Whether those looks are resulting in much success or not is another story entirely. He got past the defense for what should have been a 46 yard touchdown pass, but as has been the case for too often for Jackson, the pass was woefully underthrown and fell incomplete. Later, he got off the line and was open on a corner fade from inside the five yard line, but Rivers overthrew him. Finally, he was targeted on a deep ball down the sideline that was again horribly underthrown, though Jackson didn't help his case much when he made a very shoddy tackle attempt during the return of the pick. The interception was returned 32 yards and helped set up the LenDale White touchdown run.

Week 15 - Jackson caught just two passes, though he was as active as any other receiver on the team. The Chargers only threw the ball seven times after halftime, so it was difficult to put up big numbers in the passing game. He did draw a pass interference in the end zone to set up one of LaDainian Tomlinson's touchdown runs, he saw another pass go his way in the end zone earlier in the game. Most importantly, the fact that he saw just as many targets as anyone else on San Diego is a good sign that he isn't the forgotten man many feared he would become a few weeks ago.

Week 16 - Jackson didn't put up monstrous numbers, but he once again asserted himself well within the offense and has seen his role go from #1 receiver to afterthought and now he's firmly entrenched as the #2 guy after Chris Chambers. And while he didn't score or put up big yardage numbers, he was targeted on one pass in the end zone that was poorly thrown by Philip Rivers, and later he made one of the best catches of the entire season. He stretched along the sideline and completely laid out, all the while maintaining his feet in bounds and snagging a fingertip grab before falling out of bounds. The play was challenged by Denver but ultimately ruled a catch.

Week 17 - Jackson caught just two short passes and was not a very active participant in the offensive gameplan of the Chargers.

Week 18 - Jackson, who has slowly been coming around lately, really came on strong and picked a great time for his best game of the season. He took advantage of breakdowns in coverage on several occasions by Tennessee defensive backs and got wide open down the sideline for several big gains. He had four different receptions of twenty yards or more, none more important than the 25 yard touchdown reception that put the Chargers up 10-6. Jackson came across the field near the goal line, made the catch, and sensed S Michael Griffin floating in his direction behind him. Rather than continue on his route and probably get tackled at the one or two yard line, Jackson made a great cut-back to lose Griffin, and then eventually dove into the end zone for the score. It was a terrific demonstration of both athleticism and awareness, and with the injury to TE Antonio Gates, the heroics by Jackson were made all the more crucial. If Gates is going to miss any time, Jackson would very definitely see an increased role over his typical duties in the offense.

Week 19 - Jackson picked up where he left off a week ago and continued his superb play. He snagged a team-high seven balls for 93 yards and had a highlight reel touchdown grab on a corner fade where he out-leapt the defender for the ball and snagged it out of the air for the score. He had earlier shown nice hands on a fade over the middle, and later in the contest he displayed some nice moves after the fact with a terrific cut-back along the sideline to pick up several extra yards. Jackson struggled a bit early in the season and really had a tough time in the first few weeks after Chris Chambers showed up, but he has continued to progress as the season has gone on and he has really made his presence felt in the first two weeks of the postseason. Philip Rivers now looks to him in any and all situations, and has the utmost confidence in the young receiver no matter the play call.

Week 20 - Jackson continued his improbable run of success in the postseason, putting up a game-high 93 yards and seemingly putting himself in position to make a key reception whenever San Diego needed one. He was huge during a second quarter possession that resulted in a field goal (three receptions, 52 yards) but it could've been more if Rivers had seen Jackson streaking wide open across the back line of the end zone. Instead, Rivers threw underneath to Chris Chambers to avoid the sack, and the Chargers had to settle for three. It's unclear how the Chargers plan to attack next season, because TE Antonio Gates has essentially been the team's number one receiver for the last few years. But with the addition of Chris Chambers during the season and the emergence of Jackson during the playoffs, the team suddenly finds itself with three primary weapons in the passing game. It will be interesting to see if the Chargers want to focus on getting Jackson the ball more next year or if they see his performance late in the year as simply stepping in and emerging while Gates was less than 100%, only to return to his third option role when Gates is healthy again.