patsox23
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http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1013071
Jackson to PUP list
By Albert Breer/ Metrowest Daily News
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
When training camp opens Friday morning at Gillette Stadium, Chad Jackson will be where he has been for the last six months: healing the ACL he tore in the AFC Championship Game.
According to a league source, the Patriots [team stats] will do what everyone expects and place Jackson on the physically-unable-to-perform list in advance of the summer’s first practice.
Jackson is said to be able to sprint on the surgically repaired knee but still lacks the strength to cut and change direction. He is, however, considered to be significantly ahead of his recovery schedule.
Still, the Patriots will exercise caution and re-evaluate the receiver - who the team traded up to get with the 36th overall pick in the 2006 draft - in late August.
At that point, they will have three options: They could activate him; they could move him to the reserve/PUP, which would sideline him for at least the first six weeks of the season; or they could place Jackson on injured reserve, ending his second season in the league.
Part of the team’s reason for patience in this situation is said to be an already crowded competition for roster spots at the position, with Randy Moss, Donte’ Stallworth, Kelley Washington and Wes Welker joining holdovers Troy Brown [stats], Reche Caldwell [stats] and Jabar Gaffney [stats]. If the reserve/PUP option is exercised, a 21-day window would open after the team’s sixth game for Jackson to start practicing and join the active roster, or go on IR.
Jackson struggled with a hamstring injury during his first season in the league, sustaining it before training camp and then reinjuring it in early August when he pushed it coming back. He missed two games early and struggled to hit his stride while catching 13 balls for 152 yards.
A groin injury suffered in practice cost him two games in December, then he blew out the knee covering a kickoff in the team’s season-ending playoff loss in Indianapolis.