Quentin Jammer

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Quentin Jammer
Date of birth June 19, 1979 (age 27)
Place of birth Flag of United States Angleton, Texas
Position(s) Cornerback
College Texas
NFL Draft 2002 / Round 1/ Pick 5
Statistics
Team(s)
2002 -Present San Diego Chargers

Quentin "The Shadow" Jammer (born June 19, 1979 in Angleton, Texas) is an American football player who currently plays cornerback for the San Diego Chargers of the NFL.

Contents

[edit] High school career

Quentin Jammer attended Angleton High School in Angleton, Texas. In football, he was a two-time All-District safety, cornerback and quarterback, and as a senior, was the District Defensive MVP. He also won three letters in track and field, and participated in the long jump, 100 meter dash, and the 200 meter dash.

[edit] College career

Quentin Jammer played for The University of Texas Longhorn football team from 1997 to 2001. As a senior, he was named to the first-team All-American squad and received first-team selections to the All-Big 12 Conference squads his junior and senior years. He was named co-MVP his senior year and recorded seven interceptions (tied school record) as well as 195 tackles throughout his entire career.

[edit] NFL career

Jammer was drafted 5th overall by the Chargers in the 2002 NFL draft. After a brief holdout to start the 2002 season, he started at cornerback and has held that position ever since then, never missing a start in the process. Coming into the NFL, Jammer was touted as being a physical player and a big hitter, rather than a pure speed cover cornerback. But in the NFL, his aggressiveness often gets him into trouble, and he regularly draws pass interference calls. Jammer led the NFL in pass interferences calls in 2004 with eight.

Jammer has also been criticized for his lack of interceptions.[1] In 62 career games leading up to the 2006 season, Jammer had only recorded six interceptions, including just two total in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. When the Chargers extended Jammer's contract during the 2006 offseason, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune wrote that "... he is widely considered by Chargers fans to be among the team's weak links, mostly for the fact he has just six career interceptions."[2] Acee later wrote of Jammer: "In recent seasons Jammer has been without a doubt the most vilified Charger. It was difficult to tell whether he was disliked (perhaps too mild a term) more for what he did (get called for a lot of penalties) or what he didn't do (make interceptions). It's possible in the past decade there has been only one other Charger (do we really need to say his name?) who drew more wrath from the faithful."[3]

During Jammer's first four years with the Chargers, the team regularly finished at or near the bottom of the league in terms of pass defense. Except for the 2003 season, the team was in the bottom five in terms of pass defense every year from 2002-2005. This led many Charger fans to become frustrated with Jammer, as due to his high draft position he became a symbol for the Chargers' failure to assemble a solid secondary. In turn, Jammer was often at odds with fans over their criticisms. In a September 2005 interview, Jammer said of the fans: "Those people are idiots. (They) don't know anything about football...They're not going to bother me."[4] In recent years, supporters of Jammer noted that the Chargers had a poor pass defense not because of Jammer, but because of their anemic pass rush. But in 2005, the Chargers had one of the top front 7s in the NFL, featuring Pro Bowler and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award winner Shawne Merriman and Pro Bowler Jamal Williams. Despite this fearsome pass rush, the Chargers still finished 28th in the league in pass defense.[5]

The 2006 offseason saw an overhaul of the Chargers' secondary after many disappointing years. The team signed former Carolina Panthers safety Marlon McCree as a free agent, and they spent a first round draft choice on cornerback Antonio Cromartie. McCree's veteran presence had an immediate impact on the secondary, including Jammer, who surpassed his 2005 interception total in only the third game of the season. Although Jammer only recorded one more interception in the remaining 13 games, the 2006 season was his best as a pro. Towards the middle of the season, Jammer appeared to have turned into a shutdown cornerback, and QBs rarely threw at him. He finished with a career high in tackles and as a team the Chargers finshed 13th in the league in pass defense.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.chargers.com/news/headlines/chargers-realize-jammer.htm
  2. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20060809-9999-1s9jammer.html
  3. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20070110-9999-1s10chargers.html
  4. ^ http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050915/news_1s15chargers.html
  5. ^ http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/byteam?group=Defense&cat=Passing

[edit] External links

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