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In his first two seasons, Dwayne Jarrett has been little more than an afterthought for the Carolina Panthers.
In season three, he needs to be much more than that.
The 2009 season will be make-or-break time for Jarrett, whose All-American production at Southern California has been lost in translation in the NFL. Jarrett scored 41 touchdowns in only three seasons at Southern Cal, but has yet to score his first NFL TD.
This season better be different. Jarrett is a solid bet as the Panthers' No.3 receiver behind starters Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad. At the Panthers' ongoing summer school, Jarrett appears to know what he's doing most of the time.
“One of my strongest points is just going up and getting the ball,” said Jarrett, who at 6-foot-4 and 219 pounds dwarfs most NFL cornerbacks. “Of course, I'm not the fastest, and I don't pretend to be. But I do have good enough speed to get open.”
The Panthers would love for the 22-year-old Jarrett to turn into another Muhammad, the 36-year-old wonder who has 807 career receptions (791 more than Jarrett).
Muhammad has never had blazing speed, either, but has always excelled in blocking, making catches in traffic and leading by example.
Last year the Panthers saw running back DeAngelo Williams become a star in his third NFL season. They'd love for Jarrett to trace the same arc.
Said Panthers coach John Fox of Jarrett: “He's a young player that we hope makes big leaps and bounds. … We saw some progress last year and anticipate seeing one more year of growth this year.”
Although Jarrett appears likely to receive far more playing time this season, he said he isn't counting on it.
“Just because I'm No.3, that doesn't mean I should pump the brakes,” Jarrett said. “I need to keep going.”
Jarrett's first two NFL seasons were tremendously disappointing. As a rookie, the second-round draft pick wasn't even active for nine of 16 games. As a second-year player, he battled with D.J. Hackett for the job of third wideout and eventually won it late in the season.
Jarrett did make a couple of big catches on third downs and showed enough promise that the Panthers waived Hackett in the 2009 offseason.
Still, Jarrett caught only 10 passes for 119 yards in 2008 – or about one good game's worth of production for Smith.
Quarterback Jake Delhomme has been badgering Jarrett occasionally, like he did with Williams in 2008. Like everyone in blue, Delhomme wants more from Jarrett and admits to being “kind of hard on him” because of his high hopes.
Jarrett has had a rocky road in Carolina. Smith called him out publicly in 2007 after walking by him doing an interview in his rookie season.
“Instead of talking to the media, why don't you go watch some film?” Smith said.
Jarrett gave a half-smile and kept talking.
“Seriously,” Smith added, then walked away.
In March 2008, Jarrett was charged with driving while impaired. He eventually pleaded guilty, surrendering his driver's license and paying $420 in court costs.
Delhomme believes Jarrett's mistakes so far are at least partly because of the combination of youth and sudden riches.
“My signing bonus was 40 bucks to pay for my gas to go to New Orleans,” Delhomme said. “This was a 20-year-old kid who got a very nice signing bonus, whatever it was, probably a million and a half (actually $1.4million) bucks. Let's put it in perspective. Put many of us in that situation. I don't know how I would have reacted.”
Like most of you, I wouldn't mind getting the chance to react to a sudden influx of $1.4million. But the Panthers are right not to give up on Jarrett yet. Muhammad can't play forever. Jarrett does look more comfortable on the field – although he still struggles at times to gain separation from defensive backs, and that will always be an issue.
When I asked Jarrett to grade his first two seasons in the NFL, he demurred.
“Man, that's tough,” he said. “I'm my own worst critic. But I think my first year to my second year was like night and day.”
The statistics didn't show that. They must this season.
Because at some point soon, Jarrett needs to break out. Or else he and the Panthers will simply break up.
