Maybe you are like me. Maybe you check the ESPN.com headlines about ten times a day. Always expecting to see that Marvin Harrison has signed with team X. I don’t know about you, but it’s driving me nuts.
By my count there were 519 players who entered free agency (whether restricted, unrestricted, or released). It appears about half are now signed for 2009. Take a look at who’s left. Scouts Inc. (I know) has assigned each player a numeric grade from 0 to 100. Their scale is labeled like this:
90-100: Elite Player
80-89: Outstanding Player
70-79: Good Starter
60-69: Average Starter
50-59: Good Backup
40-49: Below Average Backup/Core Special Teamers
Out of the original 519 players only 13 who recieved a grade higher than 70 are still left unsigned. They are: John Carney, Owen Daniels, Jahri Evans, Jeff Garcia, DJ Hackett, Torry Holt, Sam Koch, Dawan Landry, Chris McAlister, Mike McKenzie, Orlando Pace, Jarad Page, and Jon Runyan. I’ve highlighted the players who are neither ancient (10 seasons +) or a kicker. Just five guys.
To say that the 2009 free agent class has been “picked over like the Golden Corral buffet” would be an understatement. Yet Marvin is left on the board. This means two things: First, his grade of 80 was way too generous. He’s not an “80” anymore. Second, nobody is in a hurry to pay him. It makes me sad to see Marvin left out in the cold like this. A good agent would gently tell him to lower his demands or retire. I’d add a third option (return to the Colts), but it is very unlikely the Colts would want Marvin back at anything above the veteran’s minimum (around $750k). He obviously isn’t coming back to Indy. The Colts have moved on and I expect to see the 2 TE set back in vogue next season.
Maybe I’m thinking about this too hard. Okay, definitely I am. But either Marvin will sign somewhere soon or I am going to lose it, old school. Probably in a very public way. For now maybe I’ll go back to reworking the lyrics of this gem into an ode to Dear Marvin.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
