Why Hakeem Nicks and Champ Bailey will have bounce-back seasons

When Maurice Jones-Drew watched his 2013 game tape, he saw a beaten man. He saw a running back that didn’t remotely resemble the Maurice Jones-Drew who led the league in rushing yards only two seasons ago prior to a foot injury. He saw a back who lacked vision, and missed running lanes entirely. He saw a plodding runner that didn’t have burst in the open field.

Mostly, he saw a 28-year-old running back.

Jones-Drew may have been limited by that left foot injury still in 2013 (one that required two screws). But the deeper root of his motivation to silence doubters that he spoke about in an interview yesterday is common for veterans formerly among the NFL’s elite: a need to validate themselves, and prove they still belong.

For Jones-Drew, passing that low bar and proving himself worthy of being an NFL starter will be difficult, as at 29 now he’s particularly old for his position. But we could see a much different ending in 2014 for two other veterans in similar situations with new teams, and coming off similarly poor seasons. There’s hope, and reason to believe they can make meaningful contributions.

But there are also difficult questions.

Which Hakeem Nicks is the real Hakeem Nicks?

Your belief in Hakeem Nicks and the likelihood that he’ll re-introduce us to the guy who had back-to-back seasons with over 1,000 receiving yards not too long ago depends on which reason you're buying for his sudden decline over his final two years with the Giants.

A foot injury clearly played a massive role in a hobbled 2012 season when Nicks had a career-low 692 receiving yards while missing three games, and being only physically present in many others. That injury also slowed him in 2013 along with a chronic knee problem, resulting in his first season without a single touchdown. But before he became a free agent in March and eventually signed with the Indianapolis Colts, doctors said he was fully healthy.

The question then may lie in Nicks’ mind, and not so much his body. Knowing his brittle state, Nicks tip-toed his way through this past season, not wanting another even more crushing break to derail his career at the still ripe age of 26. That’s no way to play football, especially for a receiver who has made his living in the past with impressive burst and leaping ability downfield.

In truth, Nicks’ spiral over the past two seasons was a combination of mental and physical demons, though lately more of the former. But unlike Jones-Drew and Champ Bailey below, Nicks still has his youth. If he’s as healthy as he claims to be, then an immediate return to physical grappling, and winning contested balls could easily be coming when he’s teamed with Andrew Luck, T.Y. Hilton, and Reggie Wayne.

Seeing that Nicks again depends on how much he cares.

Champ Bailey is old and slow too, right?

Your recent memories of Champ Bailey mostly include mental images of him chasing receivers. So failure then, the sort of sudden decline from a cornerback now on the wrong side of 35 that leads to the assumption Bailey’s days as a shutdown presence are over.

His fall began during the 2012 playoffs, when Bailey was scorched by Torrey Smith on two long receptions that went for 32 and 59 yards. Overall in that game he allowed five completions for 128 yards. Not a good look.

Then he suffered a Lisfranc injury that kept him out for all but five regular-season games in 2013, and the cornerback we eventually saw was a limping, dragging version of Champ Bailey. Still a subpar look, and the one we’re left with now as he moves on to the New Orleans Saints, where he’ll likely start alongside Keenan Lewis.

But passing judgement on that Bailey is too easy, and convenient. His 2013 season is nearly null and void due to an injury, and while the last memory we have of a healthy Bailey is the Ravens’ playoff torching, that game was an aberration. It was a day when he gave up two touchdowns, more than the one he had allowed throughout a 16-game regular season.

In New Orleans, the need to be a stone-walling shutdown corner doesn’t lie with Bailey. Instead that belongs to Lewis, and there’s ample safety help from Kenny Vaccaro and Jairus Byrd. With his physical play ideally suited for Rob Ryan’s press-man scheme, we’ll likely see at least one more season of blanketing from Bailey.