Indianapolis Colts to Release Marvin Harrison, Plan Fantasy Funeral

Jacob Sloan

Feb 24, 2009

Marvin Harrison might meet the end of his long tenure with the Colts this week. Despite the Colts’ best efforts to keep him in their plans for 2009, he’s likely to be released as a salary cap move. Lucky year 13!

Give him credit. Harrison did everything in his power to stay in the spotlight—suspected shooting incidents included—but there’s little reason for the Colts to keep him around with Reggie Wayne fully established as Peyton Manning’s top target and Anthony Gonzalez taking over Harrison’s spot on the team.

Harrison’s game clearly lost a step in 2008. He had just 636 yards and five touchdowns in 15 games, less than half of his stats from 2006.

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Harrison sat out most of the 2007 season with a knee injury, and for his sake, we won’t even bring up those numbers. Many fantasy owners thought they were cheating the system by stealing him late in the fantasy football draft. Yeah, not so much.

Harrison was exactly what we thought he would be in 2008, a dud.

There are no free rides in the NFL, especially when you're one of the highest-paid receivers in the game. Harrison will count $13.4 million against the salary cap if he is not released.

As ESPN cited Peter King:

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Most who follow the team on a daily basis had the same sense as Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who wrote Monday morning that “Polian does not give scholarships for longer than one year. And Harrison was on scholarship last year.”
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As is the custom this year with every receiver that enters the free agent market, we must now point to the Eagles' likelihood of being in the hunt for Marvin Harrison, but even with his bright, shiny known-name receiver hands, it’s unlikely that many teams will be clawing over each other for him.

He showed just last season that he was fading, and look what Jerry Porter did for Jacksonville last season…

It’s more than likely that Harrison ends up right back in Indy after testing the waters. Any other team that hired him would basically be bringing him in as a glorified wide receivers coach, and Indy considers him more valuable because of all the records Manning and Harrison could continue to break together.

For now, may Marvin Harrison’s fantasy football career rest in peace. Your draft board nameplate will always hold a special place in my heart—and by heart, I mean that trash can I dunked it in after I wadded it up.

Update: Oh yeah, and they pulled the trigger on releasing him.