Harvey’s First Post-Game Evaluation… (The Welcome Back Collin Edition!)

Let me start by apologizing for my extended absence, I was embroiled in a nasty custody suit (which I won), had to relocate to Ft. Lauderdale, and have begun my doctorate program at NOVA Southeastern. As you can tell, time has been hard for me to come by lately. Thanks to all of you who have been so active on the site, your fan-posts and in game blogs have all been phenomenal and are what sets this site apart from others. Enough drivel though, let’s talk about our first round pick…

Now, if you are holding some type of righteous grudge against Harvey for his holdout, you obviously aren’t privy to the details of how the deal went down. Once you hear it you’ll realize the attitude needs to be dropped immediately. Harvey is the one who reportedly wanted this fiasco to end and told his agent to pull the trigger accordingly. His deal includes a base package of 23.8 million guaranteed with possible escalators of ONLY 6.2 million. If he earns every cent possible of his rookie contract, it will only net him 33.4 million. Compare that to the number 7 pick Sedrick Ellis who has a contract with escalators reaching a possible 49 million. That's quite a drop-off.

Why is it a good thing to limit escalators? I’m glad you asked. Exhibit A for the Prosecution:  Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals. Larry was given a contract literally oozing with incentives, and as everyone hopes for with a first round pick, he was a huge success. He hit all of his incentives and nearly bankrupted the Cardinals cap. Arizona was forced to restructure his deal after only 4 years, that’s not a scenario we want in Jacksonville.

Harvey hasn’t been sitting on his hands during this break either. When the Jags first signed Derrick, they asked for a roster exemption because they didn’t think he’d be ready to play in the final preseason game. The team didn’t want to release another player in case Harvey wasn’t in game-shape. However, he flat out wowed Del Rio, who was surprised he showed up in such great form. Couple those facts with the obvious speed and versatility we saw from Derrick in the preseason finale and you may have the recipe for an immediate impact.

-Collin