Jerry Porter has resigned with the Raiders, and will be the front man of the receiving core for years to come. He spent a couple of years learning behind two of the best receivers of all time in Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, and now he gets his chance. Last season it took him awhile to come into his own, but down the stretch of the season he paced himself to finish with great marks.

Going into 2004, Porter was considered a top twenty receiver, and deservingly so. Even though he was coming off a rough year, the previous year he had showed great ability in the red zone with nine touchdowns. Add to that the fact that he was going to be the Raiders lone threat at receiver with respectability, and the pressure was on him.

With Kerry Collins adjusting to a new offense, it means that Jerry Porter had to also suffer from the transition. It was a process, but by the time the Raiders were playing the Broncos on national television it seemed to piece together. Porter burned Champ Bailey for three touchdowns, and tripled his season total as he only had one going into the week twelve ESPN televised game. In fact, Porter scored eight touchdowns in the final six games.

Still with Ronald Curry and Doug Gabriel stepping up down the stretch as well, it looked like the Raiders might let Porter slip into free agency. Porter made it known that he would test his market value, and if the Raiders wanted him would need to pay up. Kerry Collins lobbied for the receiver to resign, and it took a few offers by the Raiders but Porter quickly obliged.

Collins and Porter seem to have a great connection with each other, and should only develop more as they get more experience with each other. As far as how high Porter should rank amongst receivers, is still questionable. The Raiders are going to address their running back issue, and when it is resolved you have to figure their running game will take away a little of their receivers stats. It got to the point last year that the Raiders would only run the football ten to fifteen times a game, and air it out the rest.

Jerry Porter is one of the top tier strength receivers in the league, and is up there with Terrell Owens and David Boston. He can shred of defenders or shield defenders with his body and that means a lot of red zone scores. His yardage may never rank in the top twenty in the league, but his touchdowns will be more than enough to be a worthy top ten fantasy receiver.