As we get ready for Super Bowl XLII, FanHouse is looking back at each team's 2007 first-round pick. Here's a look at the 21th pick in the draft, safety Reggie Nelson.
Jaguars First-Round Review
Who They Took: Reggie Nelson, S, Florida
Who Else They Were Rumored To Consider: Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame.
What We Said At The Time: "Even if Reggie Nelson was Jacksonville's second choice, he may turn out to be a pretty good choice. With Deon Grant running off to Seattle in the offseason, the Jags had a hole to fill at safety, and now it appears to be filled with a guy who has a lot of range and is a solid tackler."
Remember back in September when Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver suggested that his team might have been better off taking Brady Quinn instead of Reggie Nelson in last April's draft? He made some crack about going back in time and using his hindsight to change all his bad decisions.
Meanwhile, Byron Leftwich was expected to be the Jaguars' starter at quarterback last April, but he was cut in the preseason in favor of David Garrard. Garrard responded by posting the third-best quarterback rating in the NFL (102.2) -- better than Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Tony Romo and Matt Hasselbeck. He also has the fewest interceptions of any starting QB in the NFL, and only one other quarterback has an equivalent TD-to-INT ratio: Tom Brady.
So tell me, Mr. Weaver -- would you still go back in time and take Brady Quinn instead?
Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.
Philip Rivers, Chargers All together now: PHILIP RIVERS ... OVER-RATED! Since Marty Schottenheimer has been elevated to sainthood status (thanks, Norvell!), looking back at his time in San Diego, there's not much he did wrong. Sure, maybe he ran the ball too much, but, hey, the guy won, a concept foreign to Norv Turner.
Anyway, Schottenheimer seemed content to let Drew Brees run things in San Diego, but general manager A.J. Smith had other ideas. He traded 2004 first-overall pick Eli Manning to the Giants for Rivers, and after two years sittin' and learnin' behind Brees, Rivers was named the starter.
Rivers was pretty good last season; Brees was an MVP candidate. This year, Rivers is doing a fine Ryan Leaf* impression, and the 2007 Chargers look a lot like the 2000 team. Sorry, No Photos
"They've got more experience than I do, and I'm pretty sure they've been studying our secondary and looking at me as a rookie starting. They might try to take advantage of me.
"We're still coming together and getting things figured out. They're probably going to come out and test us, especially me, but that's fine. We're up for the challenge."
The Jaguars secondary looks a little different than it did last season, when Gerald Sensabaugh and Deon Grant started at safety. Grant left for Seattle, which facilitated the drafting of Nelson, and Sensabaugh was lost for the season after requiring shoulder surgery. Old-timer Sammy Knight is now starting next to Nelson, and both have one interception so far this season. Given that Peyton Manning is expected to throw a lot tonight -- the Jags have allowed a stingy 50 rushing yards per game in their last four games, all wins -- you can expect Nelson and Knight to be very busy.
"Reggie wasn't even there," Englehardt said. "He was at that club earlier in the night, but he left hours before anything happened. Somebody said they saw Reggie there. He wasn't there. This is much ado about nothing."
No one is accusing Nelson of having done anything illegal in relation to the shooting, but the Gainesville Police Department did say that it interviewed him in connection with the shooting.
A shooting at 2:30 a.m. left two people injured, one critically. Nelson was in Gainesville to see his alma mater, Florida, play Auburn. The Jaguars were off this weekend.
The TV station WCJB is reporting that Jaguars rookie safety Reggie Nelson was at the scene of a shooting in Gainesville early Sunday morning and may have witnessed it.
The shooting left a 28-year old man named Corey Smith, who was shot in the head, in critical condition. A 19-year old man, Justin Glass, was shot in the arm.
Gainesville Police say the shooting happened at 2:30 a.m., while the victims were sitting in traffic in a busy area, so there are likely many witnesses. So far, however, few witnesses have come forward.
Nelson is named as a witness only. There is no indication that Nelson was involved in the shooting.
I can't say I'm surprised to read this headline: "Jags Owner Has Second Thought on First Pick". That would be Wayne Weaver, who owns the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the first pick in question is quarterback Brady Quinn.
The Jags took Florida safety Reggie Nelson with the 21st overall pick, and while Nelson will be a swell player, no doubt, defensive backs don't pack the bleachers quite like a dreamy quarterbacks.
...Weaver is concerned about the future of his small-market club, and if you read the tea leaves and consider how the team is struggling to sell tickets, he appears to be regretting the decision to bypass ... Quinn.... Asked about bypassing Quinn, Weaver told the Florida Times Union: "If I could look back on all the decisions I've made over the years and change those on 20-20 hindsight, I'd be a much wealthier man."
Obviously, putting bodies in the seats is pretty important, but the bigger issue (for me, anyway) is who will be the Jags' quarterback of the future? Is it David Garrard? I like the guy and love his story, but is anyone convinced he'll do more for Jacksonville than Byron Leftwich?
Del Rio, who often chafes at his reputation as a player-friendly coach, said at the conclusion of the team's OTAs in June that he's reducing the physical demands of the upcoming camp to keep players fresher for the 2007 season.
Of the Jaguars' 11 two-a-day practices, most include either a special-teams-only session or a practice exclusively in shorts or shells. Other practices on two-a-days, at Del Rio's option, will be without helmets in "slide and glide" mode. "We're getting closer and closer to one-a-days," he said. "The old-fashioned two-a-days were designed to get players in shape, and now you're taking your team into camp, in most cases, in shape."
Del Rio, who suffered through 21-straight two-a-days in pads as a player with the Cowboys in 1990, indicated that because most of his roster is already in shape, they will work more on the mental aspects of the game in this camp. They still plan to hit each other, of course, but if fewer hits in July and August keep them healthier in September and October, they could jump out to a fast start -- especially with Tennessee, Atlanta and Kansas City early on the schedule.
I'm not sure if opinion was more divided on any player in this year's draft than Reggie Nelson. Some people thought he was the second-best safety in the draft, and a close second behind LaRon Landry. Others thought he has a long, long way to go before he's good enough to play in the NFL.
I think he's going to be a very good NFL player, and I love the fact that the Jaguars traded down and still got him -- I think they would have taken him at their original position if they hadn't traded down.
Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, Brady Quinn is still available. The Cowboys are on the clock.
It used to be that safeties were considered the weak links of a defense -- converted linebackers or cornerbacks who were either to small or too slow (or both) to make it in the NFL. Well, things are changing:
In the last six years, seven [safety] prospects have gone in the first round, four of them in the top 10, exceeding the total of the previous 19 drafts. Even more staggering is the rate of success of the picks. In the '82-'00 time frame, eight of the 17 first-rounders developed into Pro Bowlers, and four made multiple trips to Honolulu. Of the seven first-round safeties picked in the past five years, four have already made Pro Bowls and three (Troy Polamalu, Ed Reed and Roy Williams) have been named Pro Bowlers at least three times. Two more, 2006 rookies Donte' Whitner and Michael Huff, seem headed that way.
Now, teams target safeties and build defenses around them. Reed was kind of the trailblazer in this regard, and the Steelers traded up in the 2003 draft to take Polamalu.
Whitner and Huff had excellent rookie seasons and the Bills, who also drafted safety Ko Simpson last year -- could have one of the best safety tandems in the league in the next few years (Cleveland also has two good young safeties in Brodney Pool and Sean Jones, but neither was a first-rounder).
This year, LSU's LaRon Landry is a bona fide top-10 pick, and Florida's Reggie Nelson, and Miami's Brandon Meriweather have a chance to go in the first round. The Patriots are in the market for a safety with Rodney Harrison recovering from shoulder surgery. The team has the Nos. 24 and 28 selections and could use one of these picks to restock the position.
As we get ready for Super Bowl XLII, FanHouse is looking back at each team's 2007 first-round pick. Here's a look at the 21th pick in the draft, safety Reggie Nelson.
Remember back in September when Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver suggested that his team 
Reggie Nelson has a big fat bullseye on his back tonight. The rookie safety from Florida has been 
Disputing reports that Jaguars rookie safety Reggie Nelson was a 
The TV station WCJB is 
I can't say I'm surprised to 
There's no holdout drama in Jacksonville this year. All of the Jaguars' rookies are signed an in camp today, with 
I'm not sure if opinion was more divided on any player in this year's draft than Reggie Nelson. Some people thought he was the second-best safety in the draft, and a close second behind LaRon Landry. Others thought he has a long, long way to go before he's good enough to play in the NFL.
It used to be that safeties were considered the weak links of a defense -- converted linebackers or cornerbacks who were either to small or too slow (or both) to make it in the NFL. Well, 
