This Isn't What Ghost Called Hazy Paradise

For the better part of three days I’ve layed on my side and hoped I wouldn’t cough again. No such luck really. The mild fever, the nose turning on and off like a tap, the spacey logic, all of that is okay by me… this cough is killing me however.

So apologies. Even though time I’ve had in spades, my inclinations haven’t bent toward the myriad offseason pursuits of NFL 2009.

I do see multiple if not ironies then paradoxes in these early days of the non-football wasteland. Teams expelling hard campaigners like Deuce McAllister, Fred Taylor, Jeff Garcia, Chris McAllister right before the Scouting Combine.

“Out with the old, in the with the new” doesn’t quite cover it. While some of the veteran cap casualities might be facing the hard truth of retirement, several will stick somewhere.

I’m not against the youth movement. I’m not overly sentimental. Sentimental, yes, but not overly so. Fred Taylor of last season didn’t look like Fred Taylor of even the prior two-three seasons. Taylor always ran with that weird line through his body, slightly forward, making his cuts through hips down to his knees leaving his chest swiveling forward like the compass point to due north (or due endzone).

Last year, Taylor looked almost bent over, crumpled before he hit the line outside a few breaking runs. Of course, the only consistency in Jacksonville was the offensive line’s consistently atrocious play.

And Deuce played on a couple busted knees when he did play. And Chris McAllister has played in only 14 games in the last two years. And Garcia’s not started a full season since 2002 (though perhaps he could have in 2006 with Philly).

Yeah, these guys are damaged goods. And they’ve lost millions because of it, sent packing before roster bonuses could take effect. (Making Nnamdi Asomugha’s contract with all the guarantees all the more amazing.)

But compare the known factors for these veterans against their relatively few unknowns. The legitimate questions surround their health over a full season. But teams know what they’re getting when these players suit up.

Then think about the Scouting Combine wrapping up today.

The Combine exists to provide another small measure of how these players will stack up in the pros, once money is involved… and consequently it gets real.

Andre Smith loses millions for going AWOL. Debate is around whether one of the best players in college football who played through injury should be downgraded because of that injury. Michael Crabtree this time… but do you remember when we had this debate about Adrian Peterson? Anonymous receivers from places like Abilene Christian are jumping up boards with 4.3 forty times.

And the craziest part? That all this “underwear football” as Brad Childress calls it isn’t lunacy. Last year’s ROY candidate Chris Johnson separated himself at the Combine after playing at mid-major East Carolina. For every Lions wide receiver that nailed their top 10 spot in Indianapolis only to subsequently flame out, there are legitimate players who treat the Combine as part of what it takes to earn their spot in the NFL, then go out and earn their role on an NFL team.

While the combine provides more information for teams to make their decisions come draft day, there's simply no formula for projecting success in the pros. And for battle scarred veterans, there's no guarantees to provide against further injury and further deterioration of skills.

Five days in Indianapolis or five million on a two year show-me contract aren't a solution to either problem.