Quentin Jammer

Infobox NFLactive
caption=
currentteam=San Diego Chargers
currentnumber=23
currentposition=Cornerback
birthdate=birth date and age|1979|6|19
birthplace=Angleton, Texas
heightft=6
heightin=0
weight=204
debutyear=2002
debutteam=San Diego Chargers
college=Texas
draftyear=2002
draftround=1
draftpick=5
pastteams=
* San Diego Chargers (2002-current)
statweek=17
statseason=2007
statlabel1=Tackles
statvalue1=411
statlabel2=Sacks
statvalue2=0.0
statlabel3=INTs
statvalue3=11
nfl=JAM812903

Quentin Tremaine 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.

Early years

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.

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.

NFL career

2002 NFL Draft

Jammer was drafted by the Chargers 5th overall in the 1st round of the 2002 NFL Draft.

("* represents NFL Combine")

San Diego Chargers

Due to a holdout to start the 2002 season, Jammer was not ready to make an impact his rookie year and only started 4 games. The following year, in 2003, Jammer started at the Cornerback position, and has ever since. Coming into the NFL, Jammer was touted as being a physical player and a big hitter, rather than a finesse cover cornerback. The transition to the NFL for Jammer was difficult because the physical aggressiveness which brought him so much success in college often resulted in pass interference calls. Jammer led the NFL in pass interferences calls in 2004 with eight. Jammer suffered another setback in his development when the NFL made an officiating point of emphasis in 2004 that penalized defensive players for touching receivers further than 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. In an interview with Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News, Jammer said, "All the rule changes for the offense have altered the game. It's turned football into track with pads. Before you know it, the receivers are going to have a free run at you. You can't touch them at all. The rules got me away from my game," Jammer said. "When physical corners start finessing it, that's not their style." [ [http://www.quentinjammer.com/ssp/news?news_id=13 Quentin Jammer Official Website - San Diego Chargers - News ] ]

Jammer has also been criticized for his lack of interceptions. [ [http://www.chargers.com/news/headlines/chargers-realize-jammer.htm Chargers.com - News » Headlines » Chargers realize Jammer’s value ] ] 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." [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20060809-9999-1s9jammer.html SignOnSanDiego.com > San Diego Chargers - Chargers' Jammer extended five years ] ] 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." [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20070110-9999-1s10chargers.html SignOnSanDiego.com > San Diego Chargers - Quentin Jammer Part II ] ]

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." [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050915/news_1s15chargers.html Chargers' Jammer isn't big on change | The San Diego Union-Tribune ] ] Many fans could often be heard chanting, "Lito, Lito" every time Jammer was beaten by a receiver, a reference to Lito Sheppard, the two-time Pro-Bowl cornerback of the Philadelphia Eagles who was taken after Jammer in the 2002 draft.

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. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/stats/byteam?group=Defense&cat=Passing NFL - Statistics by Team - Yahoo! Sports ] ] A reason for this may be that the 3-4 defense, which the Chargers use under Ted Cottrell, typically has larger, slower players in the front seven than in the respective positions in the 4-3, leaving more pressure on the defensive backs.

During training camp he signed a new five-year contract extension that will run through the 2012 season. 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 and most consistent as a pro. Towards the middle of the season, Jammer showed signs of turning into a shutdown cornerback, and QBs rarely threw at him. He closed out the Chargers 21-14 win over Oakland on Nov. 26 with an interception on first play after two-minute warning. He finished the season leading the team in interceptions with 4 and with a career high in tackles helping the Chargers finished 13th in the league in pass defense.

Jammer critics point to the 3rd and 10, long bomb Reche Caldwell caught in the divisional playoff game against the New England Patriots as a sign that Jammer is still not meeting expectations. Jammer, in blitz-scheme, short area press coverage, was not able to help the defense recover from an ineffective jailhouse blitz and Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady comfortably stepped up in the pocket to loft a deep strike to Caldwell. Despite Brady's completion to Caldwell, Jammer had a strong day limiting Patriot receivers, in the 2007 AFC Championship game against the Patriots, he had an outstanding performance, limiting Randy Moss to 1 reception for 12 yards, and intercepting 2007 Tom Brady off once.

Personal

Quentin is married to Alicia Jammer and has two sons named Kaden Matthew (born March 2006) and Kaleb (born February 2008). [ [http://chargers.com/team/roster/quentin-jammer.htm Chargers.com - Team » Roster » #23 Quentin Jammer | CB ] ] His cousins are Oakland Raider prospect Johnnie Lee Higgins and former Seahawk Cedric Woodard. In 2005 he drove a NASCAR race car at the California Speedway in Fontana.

References

External links

* [http://www.quentinjammer.com/ Quentin Jammer's official site]
* [http://www.chargers.com/team/roster/quentin-jammer.htm Quentin Jammer] profile at San Diego Chargers
* [http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/5891 Quentin Jammer Career Stats]