Will 49ers’ Jackson be just another bad catch?

By Chris Cluff  |   Wednesday, May 09, 2007  |  Comments( 34 )

San Francisco 49ers
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On paper, the deal looked good: Darrell Jackson for a fourth-round pick. It looked like an early Cinco de Mayo present from the Seattle Seahawks to the San Francisco 49ers.

But the 49ers already are learning Jackson is built like a piñata -- a couple of good whacks will break him.

He missed 10 games in 2005, when the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks established home-field advantage for the playoffs without him. And he missed three games at the end of last season with a sprained toe that still has him on the sideline as the 49ers go through offseason workouts.

The 49ers knew about the toe before they got Jackson and had him take a physical for that and his bad knee, so they obviously aren't concerned. But they certainly can figure out why the Seahawks were so eager to dump their top receiver of the past six seasons. The Niners just have to hope Jackson can toe the line of scrimmage when training camp begins, or they'll go down as the most recent team to gamble on an established receiver and lose.

Recent NFL history is littered with receivers who have moved on to other teams and failed miserably. Alvin Harper went from No. 2 in Dallas to No. 1 in Tampa Bay and flamed out fast. Peerless Price got a big deal from Atlanta to leave Buffalo and become the Falcons' ace receiver, but he is now back with the Bills as a secondary target again. Johnnie Morton did his best work in Detroit and was just charred meat in Barbecue City. Randy Moss gave up on the pitiful Oakland Raiders last year.

It's a who's-who of who couldn't replicate his success in another city, and there's a good chance Jackson will join the club.

Because of the toe, Jackson is already missing valuable mini-camp time. The longer he is out, the tougher it will be for him and third-year quarterback Alex Smith to find the chemistry every battery should have. Smith already faces an uphill battle to continue the marginal progress he made in 2006. He has lost offensive coordinator Norv Turner and has two new receivers, Jackson and Ashley Lelie (who also sat out the recent mini-camp). It's not a stretch to say that as Jackson and Lelie go, so goes Smith.

Jackson, who had spent his entire seven-year career in Seattle's West Coast offense, will be learning a new scheme with a new quarterback -- and that's a mix that historically has not gone well. Provided he gets on the field and stays there, the 49ers will find out just how good Jackson really is and whether the Florida native was simply yet another product of the West Coast.

Although he was Matt Hasselbeck's No. 1 receiver, that shouldn't be Jackson's true position. He has no Pro Bowl appearances and never has gone over 1,200 yards receiving. His success (three 1,000-yard seasons and 47 career touchdowns) is as much a product of the position he plays as anything else. In the West Coast offense, the flanker gets all of the best action, which is why decent but not great receivers like Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman and Donald Driver have done so well in Green Bay. So it will be telling as the 49ers take Jackson out of that offense and put him in the 49ers' set, which rightly focuses on Frank Gore's powerful running.

Of course, they won't know whether Jackson can be San Francisco's No. 1 receiver until he gets on the field. And stays there.
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About Chris Cluff

Chris Cluff spent 10 years as an editor and sportswriter for The Seattle Times. He was a key figure in the newspaper's coverage of the Seahawks, particularly during their Super Bowl run in 2005. He also has written two books on the Seahawks: "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Heart-Pounding,...
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