Will work for receptions
05/23/2002
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Take your pick: a 15-year veteran with 1,093 receptions, 13,833 yards and 129 touchdowns on his stat sheet, or a guy who owns a career 50.0 QB rating with 36 interceptions versus just 14 touchdowns in 21 career starts, all as the second overall selection in the 1998 draft.
Not exactly a conundrum, huh?
Player one ranks second all-time with those 1,093 catches and 129 touchdowns, and only two other guys in NFL history have hauled in more receiving yards. He's a future Hall of Famer, an eight-time Pro Bowler and, even at 36, he proved last season that he's still an effective wide out with 811 yards and six scores.
Meanwhile, player two's been released by three different teams in the past year, he sports a career .484 completion percentage, he once threw for just four yards on 1-of-15 passing in a 1998 game, and he's been more successful on the flag football field than he's ever been with any NFL franchise.
And yet, despite his blatantly superior numbers, player one couldn't find a job this season while player two just signed with the next team that'll eventually release him. Player one is now "sports commentator four," joining Bob Costas, Dan Marino and Chris Collinsworth on HBO's "Inside the NFL" this fall. Player two could be quarterback three in Seattle this season, assuming he survives training camp and outperforms two rookies in the process.
On both accounts, though, we're likely assuming too much.
Player one, of course, is former Minnesota Vikings receiver Chris Carter, and player two is former San Diego Chargers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Ryan Leaf. Leaf, given a fourth shot by Seattle's Mike Holmgren, tentatively has an NFL job for the 2002-03 season. Carter, shunned by just about every franchise in the game after opting out of his contract with Minnesota, will be wearing a tie and jacket this year instead of shoulder pads and a helmet.
The seemingly obvious question is, why? But it's actually the answer that's pretty simple.
Carter, who by the numbers is the second-best receiver in the history of the game, ran himself out of the league by running his mouth in Minnesota. At 36 and with skills that aren't nearly as honed as they once were, everything else about Carter's game had to be immaculate to land the job he coveted this offseason -- a starter with a true Super Bowl contender. Unfortunately for the man who was released by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1990, his on-field reputation suffered about as much abuse as the 5-11 Vikings did last year.
And he's got nobody to blame but himself, which, judging by his infamous sideline hissy-fits, he doesn't do often.
We all remember Carter getting in Randy Moss' face last season, getting in Dennis Green's face, getting in Daunte Culpepper's face... . Granted, the Vikings suffered through an extremely emotional and disappointing 2001-02 campaign following the training-camp death of offensive lineman Korey Stringer, and it was only his intensely competitive nature that pushed Carter to those extremes, but nonetheless that kind of confrontational attitude didn't do much for his reputation, and it certainly didn't help his job search.
Don't believe that it was his perceived arrogance that cost Carter his 16th NFL season? Look no further than the man who stands above the former Viking in the record books for proof -- Jerry Rice.
Released by the San Francisco 49ers after the 2000 season at the age of 38, Rice without question wasn't the same dominating receiver he once was. His numbers had slipped dramatically the previous two years and, following a gruesome knee injury in 1997, there also were lingering questions about his health. But that didn't stop several teams from offering some serious coin for Rice's services, with the Oakland Raiders eventually signing the prized free agent to a four-year, $5.4 million deal. Rice returned the favor by catching 83 balls for 1,139 yards and nine scores last season.
Interesting, isn't it, that while Carter and his impressive career stats couldn't find a single team willing to pony up the cash for even a one-year deal, Rice, who at the time was two years older than Carter is now, landed a four-year contract with a genuine Super Bowl hopeful?
A look at the stat sheet is even more telling:
Carter: 68 receptions, 811 yards, 11.9 yards/catch, six TD, one 100-yard game
Rice: 75 receptions, 805 yards, 10.7 yards/catch, seven TD, no 100-yard games
These are the numbers each player posted during his "walk" year with his respective team -- 2001-02 for Carter and 2000-01 for Rice. Neither receiver really set the league on fire, but they both put up respectable stats at an advanced age.
The only difference is, Rice wasn't seen screaming at teammates and coaches on the sidelines every Monday morning on SportsCenter. Carter was. And consequently, Rice had to decide between the Raiders and Seahawks last year. Carter will have to decide between a blue and black suit this season.
Admittedly, there are rumors that while there were a couple teams interested in signing the former Ohio State star, nobody could match Carter's salary requirements. There certainly could be some truth behind those whispers but I have to believe that, had the right team in the right situation knocked on his door, Carter's figures would have fallen a bit.
But that team never knocked. There was talk about St. Louis, talk about Miami, talk about even Cleveland (a visit that, ironically, may have cost Carter a job with the Rams), but in the end the All-Pro receiver couldn't find what he was looking for. That speaks volumes for just how far his stock has fallen the past couple years. But can you honestly penalize a guy for caring too much about winning?
Apparently you can.
I mean, think about it: How many contenders out there desperately could use a veteran receiver with his credentials and win-first attitude? I can name at least eight off the top of my head: Philly, Miami, Indianapolis, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Seattle and Cleveland. We're talking about eight either playoff-caliber teams or teams that seem to be just a player or two away from true contention, and you're telling me that not one of them would to take a chance on a Hall-of-Fame receiver anxious to find work?
Nope. Instead, Ryan Leaf gets a fourth chance while Chris Carter gets the cold shoulder. Mike Holmgren, along with probably several other front-office execs, must still be infatuated with Leaf's arm, 6-5 frame and willingness to sign for the league minimum. Guys like that, guys who still have a few years to go before their 30th birthdays, guys with tools and potential who'll play for pocket change, they always seem to get second chances.
Or fourth chances.
But then there are guys like Chris Carter, guys who defy Father Time by posting adequate numbers late in their careers. They sometimes get second chances too, but their margin of error is miniscule because, while production is certainly factored into the free agent equation, coaches won't pay much for an egotistical old grouch with a history of feather ruffling. No matter how many times his name pops up in the record books.
So while Ryan Leaf's career has again been resuscitated by a hopeful head coach, Chris Carter unknowingly committed career suicide on the Minnesota sidelines last season. A player who cared only about winning on the football field, Carter ironically got burned by his own competitive flame.
Kind of makes you wonder how someone like Terry Glenn still has a job, huh?
In the Bullz-Eye
Cleveland Indians manager Charlie Manuel. After starting the year 11-1, the Tribe has been in a major funk since, currently standing at 20-26. From April 16 to May 3, the Indians went just 2-15, and recently Manuel's squad dropped six of seven to the Royals and Tigers, two teams with a combined 33-56 record. In those six losses the Tribe scored a total of 12 runs, and while the starting pitching has been solid of late the rest of the team has struggled mightily, meaning, as always, the manager and not the players take the blame. But in this case, Manuel deserves some of the discredit -- an admitted "small ball team" coming out of spring training, the Indians have grounded into a Major-League leading 56 double plays, they've totaled just eight sacrifice hits and stolen just 20 bases on 37 attempts.