The Titans unloaded "Adam" Pacman Jones just before last April's draft, and got a fourth-round pick from the Cowboys for their troubles. Tennessee used the selection on California wide receiver Lavelle Hawkins, and through five weeks, he's yet to do, well, much of anything.
But expectations are low; as long as he stays out of trouble, it's a moral victory, if nothing else. Even though the Titans are now Pacman-less and happily atop the AFC with a 5-0 record, there's still a pretty good chance their 2005 first-round pick comes back to bite them in the bum.
There was another facet to the trade. If Jones isn't suspended by the NFL and is available or on injured reserve for all 16 games this season, the Titans get a sixth-round pick from the Cowboys in the 2009 draft. If Jones is suspended again, the Cowboys get a fifth-rounder from the Titans.
Let's be honest, the laws of probability suggest that the Titans end up shipping that 2009 fifth-rounder to Dallas, because, frankly, there's no way Pacman makes it through the entire season without breaking some law. Which means that Tennessee views Dallas' 2008 fourth-round pick worth more than Jones AND, say, a 95 percent chance of losing their '09 fifth-rounder.
For the nerds in the audience, that looks something like this:
[Pacman + (0.95*09TEN4th) + (0.5*09DAL6th)] < 08DAL4th
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The thing is -- and this is shocking, frankly -- nobody in Tennessee is arguing that Pacman would be an upgrade over Nick Harper. If it takes a 2009 fifth-rounder to close the book on Mr. Jones, well, so be it.
