Javon Walker article

tromadz

Cheesehead
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
999
Reaction score
3
Location
Chicago
Javon Walker isn't acting like himself. He is a good teammate. Why the harsh talk about GB? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ <----clicky

Walker playing a game he just can't win
Posted: Mar. 15, 2006




Welcome to Javon Walker II, subtitled "Whiny wide receiver bites the hand that feeds him . . . again."

This time, Walker has vowed that he has played his final game for the Green Bay Packers.

"I just don't feel like this is the best place for me to be right now," Walker told ESPN.com. "I really have no interest in being in a Green Bay Packers uniform or playing for Green Bay again. If I had to go back there, I'd retire. I don't have to play."

Us mortals who live in the real world must understand two things about Javon Walker and all the members of his fraternity: 1, We don't understand them. 2, We never will.

You thought maybe you had seen the end to this behavior when Walker dumped Drew Rosenhaus as his agent. It was the evil Rosenhaus who had advised Walker to bail on minicamps last year, then threaten to hold out into the season if he didn't get a new, much fatter contract from the Packers.

Walker and Rosenhaus, as it turned out, were bluffing. When your hole cards are jokers, you fold and play the hand you agreed to when you signed your contract. So when training camp opened, Walker reported for work promising in 2005 to improve on his sizzling Pro Bowl season of 2004, the best year of his four-year career.

But Walker turned in a sluggish, uneven training camp. And in Week 1 of the season Walker tore the ACL in his right knee at Ford Field in Detroit and was lost for the season. Against the Lions, Walker caught four passes for 27 yards. And those were his season totals.

In 2005 Walker caught just as many touchdown passes for the Packers as your aunt Sylvia. That would be none. Zip. Zero. But aunt Sylvia never drew a penny from the Packers' treasure chest.

For playing part of just one game, the Packers paid Walker a base salary of $515,000. Of course, Walker was entitled to that money. And the Packers, as the rules dictate, lived up to their part of the bargain.

Certainly, no one can blame Walker for getting injured. These things happen in the violent world of professional football. But it's also true that part of a player's value to his team is linked to his availability. (See Brett Favre). The best player in the league isn't as good as the worst if he's injured and out for the season. That's cold, but it's true.

Part of Walker's problem with the Packers is Favre, the team leader who still hasn't announced whether he's returning for 2006. When Walker waged his feud with the Packers last year, Favre spoke out against him, because Walker had two years remaining on his contract.

"There's an unwritten rule that players stick together." said Walker, who is entering the final year of the five-year, $6.7 million contract that he signed in 2002.

Walker has had just one great season to hang his helmet on since the Packers drafted him with their No. 1 pick in 2002. He was brilliant in 2004, catching 89 passes for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns.

By all accounts, Walker's latest outburst - like last season's - is out of character. The talented receiver is well-liked by his coaches and teammates. He's not considered a trouble-maker. He's no Terrell Owens. And maybe that's why some think this latest ploy is just more posturing and grandstanding to get the big contract he really wants.

It's interesting that Walker's latest complaints surfaced shortly after the NFL's salary cap ballooned to a robust $103.737 million, a hike of more than $7.5 million.

A year ago after stiffing minicamps Walker said, "I hope something does come around. I do love the Packers. I would love to be there for the rest of my career . . . "

Now, it seems to be a love lost.

Curiously, you never heard Walker offer to return any money to the Packers when he underachieved in the first two years of his contract. Walker was paid $5.235 million over those first two seasons. During that time he caught just 64 passes for 1,035 yards and 10 touchdowns. Nice numbers for a No. 3 wide receiver, but not your go-to guy.

In asking to be traded, Walker seems to have lost sight of who he is and how he is perceived by his own team and the rest of the NFL. No one knows how his surgically repaired right knee will respond to the rigors of the new season. Any team would trade for the 2004 Walker model. And the Packers, to be sure, would do all they could to retain the services of such a player. But no team wants to gamble high stakes on a lame thoroughbred.

Walker's Pro Bowl year of 2004 is history. He can't expect the Packers or any team to pay him for what he did two years ago. It's what he will do in 2006 that matters. So Walker is in the "show-'em" phase of his career. And he can't show 'em if he sits out the season.

Walker could learn a valuable lesson from his teammate, Ahman Green. If ever there was a player who could point to yesterday for tomorrow's paycheck it's Green. For five years before his ill-fated, injury shortened 2005 season, no back in the NFL put up better all-around numbers than Green.

When Green tore up his right thigh tendon at the Metrodome against Minnesota in Week 7 he also lost his chance for a big payday entering unrestricted free agency.

But Green re-signed with the Packers, accepting a one-year, $2 million contract, which includes a $500,000 signing bonus as the only guaranteed money. If Green does not fully recover or doesn't play well enough to make the team, the Packers won't owe him a penny more.

In 2005, Green was paid a base salary of $4.375 million as part of a five-year, $21.5 million deal he signed before the 2001 season. Before his injury he was chasing a contract that would reward him for being the most productive runner in the NFL from 2000-'04, when he gained 6,848 yards.

"I want to be here and finish my career here as a Packer," Green said.

But Javon Walker wasn't listening.

There is no question the Packers need Walker, vintage 2004. His loss was a big reason for Green Bay's miserable 4-12 finish and had much to do with Favre throwing 29 interceptions.

But if Walker really doesn't want to play in Green Bay, the Packers are left with only one choice:

Let him go and find someone who does.

Send e-mail to [email protected]
-----------------------------------------------
 

packedhouse01

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
Messages
1,560
Reaction score
1
It's all about the spoiled athlete. The kid comes out of high school and he's talented. All the big colleges are willing to pay for his services. He gets to college and he's got trainers, he's got tutor and somebody waiting on him all the time. He plays well and is good enough to get drafted high. He makes a lot of money as a rookie. He gets to his second year and improves with a great quarterback throwing him the ball. But he's spoiled and he has to have everything now. It's, "what if I get hurt? how will I live?" The bottom line for Javon is that his theory on life is, "IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!" And bottom line for the NFL is that someone will pay him, just like Dallas did with Terrel Owens. How that guy is still in the league baffles me, but Jerry Jones is the same way. To Jerry, "IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!" That pretty much explains why Javon is doing this stuff.
 
OP
OP
tromadz

tromadz

Cheesehead
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
999
Reaction score
3
Location
Chicago
i agree.

i liked the part where the writer said javon did his ranting just when the cap space balooned up with an additional 10 mil! LOL!
 

Zero2Cool

I own a website
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
11,903
Reaction score
4
Location
Green Bay, WI
tromadz said:
i agree.

i liked the part where the writer said javon did his ranting just when the cap space balooned up with an additional 10 mil! LOL!

I missed that part, but I did find this "It's interesting that Walker's latest complaints surfaced shortly after the NFL's salary cap ballooned to a robust $103.737 million, a hike of more than $7.5 million."

:)

Javon Walker will be back and fine. He's the least of our worries.
 

IPBprez

Cheesehead
Joined
Dec 15, 2004
Messages
2,883
Reaction score
5
Location
Lambeau Midwest
All he's relegated to now - is Draft-bait fodder.....

Didn't we draft him in the first round? I think we did. So, TT lets him go to somebody "really really" bad.... in need of an upgrade - like Houston, who'll never win anything - and we get that extra draft pick that TT likes so much.

Pretty simple, really!
 

paxvogel

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
507
Reaction score
0
Location
Little Rock, AR
He was drafted in first round, about pick twenty. We moved up about 6 or 7 spots and gave up our second round pick at the time to do so.
 

LambeauLeaper

Cheesehead
Joined
Mar 30, 2005
Messages
239
Reaction score
0
Location
Arizona
I seriously doubt anyone will give up a first round pick for an injured malcontent. Like the writer said, he has to prove himself again because no one will pay him for what he did 2 years ago. Yes, someone will pay him, but not the amount he's looking for.
 

cheesey

Cheesehead
Joined
Nov 25, 2005
Messages
1,000
Reaction score
3
Location
Wisconsin
All these players care about is themselves. it's NOT like the guy is getting chicken feed to do his JOB. Even at his "low" pay, he makes more playing a GAME then most people make working 10 to 20 years of hard work. Someone needs to hit him with a dose of reality. I wouldn't give him a raise, OR trade him. Make him get ZERO dollars, and he will NEVER recoup it.
 

chibiabos

Cheesehead
Joined
Jun 9, 2005
Messages
398
Reaction score
0
Location
Trego, WI
J.W. Has had it all his way for so long he's forgotten that there is any other way. What he really needs is a two by four upside the head, shake some goobers loose.
 
OP
OP
tromadz

tromadz

Cheesehead
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
999
Reaction score
3
Location
Chicago
lol, i remember when it happened, i was saying "hes ok, he'll be back in" cuz i knew...losing javon...would be so bad!

Man...if I only knew that was only the begining...
 

retiredgrampa

Cheesehead
Joined
Sep 22, 2005
Messages
804
Reaction score
0
Location
phoenix AZ
I don't blame it all on Rosen****. Walker trained and spent a lot of time with Terrell Owens last off-season. AS my sainted Mother used to say..."Tell me who you go with, and I'll tell you what you are!" In any event and with any team, Walker will need to have a 2004 season again to get the BIG money in 2007. It's in his hands. I doubt that there is a team out there now that will trade for him now and pay him big money now. Of course, there IS a Snyderbrenner.
 

vasher31

Cheesehead
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
alright seriously, california cheez has to change his signature. it sure didnt happen last year. Maybe hes praying for a miracle this coming season :roll:
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest posts

Top