Javon Walker: Doomed by Fate?

In recent years, Javon Walker has shown a consistent problem with being in the wrong place at the wrong time: beginning with the shooting which took the life of friend (and then teammate) Darrent Williams, carrying through his beating and robbery in Las Vegas yesterday, and eventually into his 2008 roster spot in Oakland.

Walker is coming to the Raiders at a less-than-beneficial time for both parties. His career, which has looked very promising at times, is currently in limbo, thanks to recent a knee injury which sidelined him for most of the 2007 season. This was his second major knee injury in the last 3 seasons, and has raised concerns over his durability. To best recover from a major injury and overcome the criticisms that it will naturally provoke, a receiver needs to be on a team whose offense is dependable without him, and potentially undeniable with him. Oakland is most certainly not that team: their offensive production last year, while a vast improvement over 2006’s abysmal showing, was wildly hit-or-miss. An improved running game provided the most firepower, but even this aspect frequently struggled against mediocre defenses (Green Bay, for instance, ranked only 14th at season’s end, allowing opponents an average of 102 yards per game; however, in a 12/9 meeting at Lambeau, they bottled up the Raider rushers, holding them to only 85 yards on 28 carries). The passing attack, already unreliable, lost a valuable target in Jerry Porter, who signed with Jacksonville in February. Now add into this stew the fact that 2008 is to be the first full season under center for super-soph JaMarcus Russell, and you’ve got a team that will be looking to Walker to make a large contribution to their overall success.

Not to mention, he’ll be making $27 million over the first three years of his contract, $16 million of which is guaranteed. You could say that there is a lot of weight on his shoulders; but, everyone knows that heavy lifting is done with the knees.