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Jaguars News | Jacksonville Jaguars - jaguars.com

Trouble on the horizon

Join jaguars.com senior editor Vic Ketchman as he tackles the fans' tough questions.

Daniel from Springfield, MO:
Which teams have the toughest and easiest strength of schedules next season?

Vic: The toughest schedules, according to this year's opponents' winning percentages last season, belong to the Dolphins .547, Patriots .539, Jets and Chiefs .535, and Bills, Ravens and Chargers .531. The softest schedules belong to the Rams .445, Cardinals .449, Eagles .453, Seahawks .457 and Redskins .465. The Jaguars' 2005 opponents had a winning percentage of .504 last season.

Dana from Jacksonville:
What exactly does the term "possession receiver" mean and why does it happen later in a wide receiver's career?

Vic: "Possession receiver" is a way of describing a wide receiver who doesn't have the speed to get deep, but is very good at getting open in the short-passing areas. As receivers get older and begin to lose their speed, they need to become more adept at "possession receiver" skills to keep their careers going. Keenan McCardell is the consummate "possession receiver." McCardell never had the kind of speed defenses feared, but he knew how to "sit down" in the soft spot of a zone, or how to set up a defender to be beaten to the inside or the outside. When I think of "possession receiver," two other names that come to mind are Fred Biletnikoff and Steve Largent.

Roger from Jacksonville:
If the league doesn't add any more teams, it looks to me like the NFLPA's proposal to designate 59 percent of "Total Football Revenues" to player salaries would push the salary cap to just over $103 million. Under the current revenue-sharing model, would that be enough to put the Jaguars into a financial deficit?

Vic: I don't know where the break point would be for the Jaguars, but a salary cap of $103 million would be real close. I can tell you that Wayne Weaver is very concerned about the revenue-sharing issue for the very reason you've stated: A rising salary cap. As revenues increase, so does the salary cap, and at some point the low-revenue teams are not going to be able to spend to the level of the cap. The high-revenue teams, which is another way of saying large-market teams, are most responsible for driving the cap upward and, in effect, they are transferring their player costs onto the low-revenue or small-market teams. That's Weaver's concern and his and Dan Rooney's plan for coping with that dilemma is a share-the-revenue formula that distributes a percentage of all local team revenues evenly among the league's 32 teams. As it stands now, each team keeps all of the local revenue (broadcast rights, sponsorship, naming rights, etc.) it generates. The local revenues in New York, for example, are worth a lot more than the local rights in Jacksonville. The Jaguars are in the bottom third of the league's revenue rankings. Under the current system, trouble is on the horizon.

Manuel from Mexicali, Mexico:
This is a very tough question to answer but here it goes. Do you see a pro football team in Los Angeles any time soon? If and when Al Davis retires from the Raiders, do you see a greater chance for the Raiders to move back to Los Angeles?

Vic: Los Angeles is going to get an NFL team. That's obvious. When that might happen is not as clear. LA is having difficulty finding a stadium site and that could delay the relocation of a team. We don't know which team that will be, either. I consider the Raiders a candidate because I have to believe the time they spent in LA in the '80's make the Raiders the favorite among LA fans and the most natural candidate to relocate. We only know one thing for sure right now: LA is going to get a team. Who and when remains unknown.

Jared from Conway, AR:
Any news on a Jones contract? I have asked a few times and you never respond!

Vic: Do you think there's any chance that if Matt Jones agreed to a contract or the two sides were close to a deal that there might be something about it on jaguars.com? These things take time. Check back in July.

Karen from Jacksonville:
Onterrio Smith was fined and given a one-year suspension for repeat drug infractions by the NFL. I assume he loses all his money for 2005 but how does that affect Minnesota's salary cap?

Vic: Any money a player loses due to suspension is credited back to the team's salary cap. That does not include, of course, the cost of the Whizzinator.

Kent from Oviedo, FL:
Does Bryon throw for 4,000 yards this year? Is that the proper understanding of this new offense the Jags are installing?

Vic: My understanding is that the goal is to score a lot more points than the Jaguars did last year. Yards are meaningless if you don't score points. The Jaguars were 21st in the league last season in total yards, but they were 29th in points per game. If they had been 21st in points, they probably would've made the playoffs.

Jackson from Jacksonville:
Rate your top five corners in the game today.

Vic: Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, Chris McAlister, Shawn Springs and Nate Clements.

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