Without Harrison, someone must step up or step in
By Mike Chappell
Posted: February 26, 2009Read Comments(25)Recommend E-mail Print Share Del.icio.us Digg Reddit Yahoo Google A A Now that the Indianapolis Colts have bid farewell to their career receiving leader, how will they replace him?
"There never will be another Marvin (Harrison), at least in my lifetime,'' team president Bill Polian said Tuesday as the Colts announced they had terminated the 13-year player's contract.
Indeed, his diminishing productivity notwithstanding, the void Harrison leaves is huge -- especially considering who's left.
Reggie Wayne returns. He's coming off a third straight Pro Bowl appearance and already had supplanted Harrison as quarterback Peyton Manning's No. 1 option.
Anthony Gonzalez returns. He's coming off his second and best year in the NFL: 57 receptions, 664 yards, four touchdowns.
Dallas Clark returns. The tight end is routinely used as a third receiver when offensive coordinator Tom Moore spreads the field, but again, he's a tight end.
After that? A scan of the Colts' receiving corps reveals nothing but youth and unproven commodities. Roy Hall and Pierre Garcon are the only other players with NFL catches, and they combine for five. Sam Giguere and Taj Smith were practice-squad players in 2008.
At this point it's difficult to see an every-game starter among those four.
Coaches like the potential of Garcon and, particularly, Hall, who has nice size at 6-3 and 240 pounds. But Hall has missed 25 of a possible 32 regular-season games because of shoulder and knee injuries.
So . . . what to do?
Free agency is always an option, and this year includes a prize in Cincinnati's T.J. Houshmandzadeh. But the Colts have rarely taken that marquee-signing route in the past, and currently face major salary cap constraints.
The far more likely scenario is seeking Harrison's replacement in the April 25-26 NFL draft.
The Colts own the 27th overall pick, and have used that bottom-of-the-first-round placement to stock Manning's shelf of options in the past: Wayne with the 30th pick in 2001, Clark with the 24th in '03 and Gonzalez with the 32nd in '07.
Even a month before Harrison's release, Polian listed receiver at the top of his offseason priorities.
"Marvin's not going to play forever," he said in January. "We've got to be thinking about what's the future at that critical position.''
Polian said this year's draft crop was "very deep and very exciting,'' and that there were some "amazing times" in the recently completed NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Prospects who might be available when the Colts pick include Maryland's Darrius Heyward-Bey, North Carolina's Hakeem Nicks, Florida's Percy Harvin and Rutgers' Kenny Britt. Heyward-Bey turned in the top 40-yard-dash time at the combine, a 4.30.
Whoever it is, however he arrives, coach Jim Caldwell anticipates someone filling the void.
"Historically, what we've been able to do, regardless of what position we're dealing with, there have been young people that have been able to step up,'' he said.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20090226/SPORTS03/902260442/1058/SPORTS03
Calendar