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Skins' receiver is low on the depth chart after injuries derailed rookie year

Taylor Jacobs' rookie year in the NFL is proof that when something sounds too good to be true, it often is too good to be true.

Draft day of 2003 did not start well for Jacobs, a wide receiver from the University of Florida. Projected to be a first-round draft choice, Jacobs sat and watched as every NFL team with a first-round selection passed on him.

He wasn't taken until the second round, the 44th spot overall. But the Washington Redskins took him, and that should have been good news for Jacobs.

It seemed destiny was working in Jacobs' favor.

Steve Spurrier, who had recruited and coached Jacobs at Florida, was the coach of the Redskins in 2003. What situation could be better for an NFL rookie than to join his former college coach and step into an offense he had run for three years? Jacobs was projected to be the Redskins' No.3 wide receiver, and some thought he might break into the starting lineup before the season ended.

The NFL is tough on rookies though. Jacobs was having a so-so preseason when things suddenly got worse.

In the Redskins' final preseason game, he fell and landed on another player's shoe. Jacobs felt as if the breath had been knocked out of him.

But the pain would not go away.

He was sent to the hospital for tests.

"I had a hole in my pancreas," Jacobs said. "They told me it was the first time that had happened in the NFL. It usually happens in boxing, but not football."

Jacobs was sidelined for a month before playing in his first NFL game, in a reserve role. That was his fate for the next two months, until he suffered a foot injury in early December and did not play again.

Jacobs' rookie year, seemingly filled with promise, ended with three receptions for 37 yards and one touchdown. He played in just eight games, had no starts and one week after the season concluded, watched as the coach who had drafted him resigned.

Jacobs' NFL future did not seem so SKINSbright at that moment.

So Jacobs did the only thing he could. He worked to get in shape for the 2004 season. He knew he needed to make a positive impression on the new coaching staff, and he did so in the first minicamp last April.

The challenge now for Jacobs is to continue making that impression, especially on head coach Joe Gibbs.

"Coach Gibbs is giving me a fighting chance," Jacobs said. "He's giving me a chance to perform and show what I'm made of.

"Special teams were my ticket last year; I look forward to playing them again. But I hope I'll have a chance to get on the field on offense this fall."

There's the rub. The Redskins' depth at receiver should be one of their strengths. Laveranues Coles, Rod Gardner, Darnerien McCants and James Thrash stand ahead of him on the depth chart now.

But it's not as if Jacobs lacks ability. In 2002 at Florida, he caught 71 passes for 1,088 yards (15.3 yards per reception) and eight touchdowns. He has good size (6-0, 198), decent speed and good hands.

He's capable of playing in the NFL. Whether he's capable of proving he can do that with the Redskins is his challenge now.

"I don't worry about who's out there, who's in front of me, who's behind me," Jacobs said. "It's just a matter of working hard and knowing I've tried my best and did all I can do to get on the field.

"I can't worry about what I could have been or what I should have done. All I can ask of myself is to do my best."