Joey Harrington May Suck Less Than You Think

The Dolphins and Lions finally got the deal done to move Joey Harrington to Miami for a conditional draft pick. It's about time, the rumors of this damn deal have been going on forever. Now, while I think it's easy (and admittedly, accurate) to call Harrington a bust-ola in Detroit, I'm on the bandwagon of people who kinda think this guy may not be done yet in the NFL.

The popular argument of course is that Joey Harrington deserves all the blame in the world for his failures in Detroit because of the talent surrounding him at WR. In reality, though, that's an unfair assessment of the actual situation in Detroit. While the Lions invested first round picks on WRs in three straight drafts (a monumentally stupid move by Matt Millen, by the way), that doesn't mean that Harrington was suddenly surrounded by top-tier talent on offense. Roy Williams has been a great talent, but the other two? Not so much...

Charles Rogers, the oldest of the three wideouts is only 24 and in his three seasons in the NFL has only played 15 games and has one (one!) TD catch. Last year, Mike Williams amassed only 350 receiving yards and one touchdown as he struggled to make an impact in 14 games last year as a rookie. The point is this: most of the time, Harrington's weapons were as young and inexperienced as he was (at both WR and with RB Kevin Jones) and not the impact players that people like to assume they were merely because of their first round selection. In fact, more often Harrington's targets included the likes of Az Zahir-Hakim and Kevin Johnson, names that few people would allege as being top flight NFL receivers.

While the lack of experience surrounding him doesn't totally mitigate Harrington's struggles in Detroit, it should be acknowledged more often than it is when evaluating his performance thus far. In Miami, Harrington's targets will have certainly less name recognition (aside from Chris Chambers), but more experience in the league (like Marty Booker, a solid veteran posession receiver). That may make a difference.

Also important here is the simple "change of scenery" factor. For a lot of NFL QBs, a negative reputation is really difficult to shake. But, a lot of times, a simple change of address can alleviate a lot of the pressure and do wonders for a QB's career (think Jake Plummer with the Broncos and Rich Gannon in Oakland).

Of course, this all becomes academic if Culpepper is actually healthy, in which case Harrington is relegated to being a #2 quarterback. But, considering the fervor with which the Dolphins pursued Harrington, Culpepper's status is probably still pretty uncertain. In any case, I'm on board with the moves the Dolphins have made at quarterback based on the simple fact that all they've given up to acquire two good QBs is a 2nd round pick and a conditional draft choice.

Also: the whole "Harrington is a bust" thing got me thinking about guys from the 2002 draft that have Ryan Leafed way more than Joey Harrington:
4th Overall: Mike Williams, OT Buffalo Bills
7th Overall: Bryant McKinnie, OT Minnesota Vikings
12th Overall: Wendell Bryant, DT Arizona Cardinals
16th Overall: William Green, RB Cleveland Browns
22nd Overall: Bryan Thomas, DE New York Jets
29th Overall: Mark Columbo, OT Chicago Bears

Hope you enjoyed my blabbering post, and remember: I'm probably wrong about all of this, I'm the guy that still thinks Patrick Ramsey is a legit NFL player.