After debating opportunities with the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos for backup jobs, former San Francisco 49ers receiver J.J. Stokes decided to challenge for a starting job and agree to a one-year, $805,000 contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

	Stokes

Included in the deal, which will be signed Tuesday, is a $150,000 signing bonus. Stokes could make $300,000 in incentives.

Stokes, 30, was a June 2 salary-cap casualty but figured to be one of the most active of the released players on the market. The New York Jets and Detroit Lions also showed interest in the former first-round draft choice from UCLA.

Stokes played eight seasons for the 49ers and caught 327 passes for 4,139 yards and 30 touchdowns. Stokes' best season was 1998 when he caught 63 passes for 770 yards and scored eight touchdowns.

The need for a viable receiver to pair with Jimmy Smith was reflected in the team's 2002 statistics and the aggregate numbers for its current receivers corps. Excluding Smith, the Jacksonville wide receivers combined for just 58 catches, 788 yards and fve touchdowns in 2002. Even in a season when most observers felt Smith's performance declined, his individual statistics still dwarfed those combined numbers, as he posted 80 receptions for 1,027 yards and seven scores.

The 10 other wide receivers on the Jacksonville roster, before the Monday agreement with Stokes, had career averages of 40.7 catches, 567.5 yards and 3.3 touchdown receptions. And that includes the totals for veteran Jermaine Lewis, who hasn't played wide receiver in several seasons, and likely will be used by the Jaguars as a return specialist only.

Stokes, the 10th overall player chosen in the 1995 draft, is the third free agent wide receiver signed by the Jaguars this spring, joining Lewis and Donald Hayes. Six-year veteran Kevin Lockett, who was signed late last season, has been working with the first unit in mini-camps and offseason workouts.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com. ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli contributed to this report.