Hue Jackson of the Oakland Raiders is dipping back into his former experience as position coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. First he signed his former quarterback Carson Palmer, and now he's hauling in one of Palmer's favorite targets in T.J. Houshmandzadeh after a workout with the team. The Raiders made the official announcement today.
Houshmandzadeh was once one of the primary targets along with Chad Ochocinco (then Chad Johnson) when the Bengals seemed on the verge of breaking out in the AFC North a half-decade back, but then things fell apart after Palmer's leg injury in the playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's been a steep downtrend for Houshmandzadeh since that point, who only caught 30 passes last year with the Baltimore Ravens and had a terrible drop in last year's AFC playoff game.
Do the Raiders really need Housh? It's debatable. Perhaps Jackson wants to give Palmer some familiarity in terms fo the players he's dealing with. Recievers like Jacoby Ford, Darrius Heyward-Bey, and Denarius Moore are strong but not particularly gamebreakers. Perhaps Palmer needed someone like Housh to give him a fallback option in case he couldn't hit his regular receivers. We'll see if he can make his stint in Oakland worth it.
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