Lions Re-Sign Ram That Got Away

Even when you get down to the numbers, letting Mike Furrey go on down the Free Agent pathway was a mistake. Forget the re-structure effort; forget the visions of a new grandeur as justification from first-year Coach Scott Linehan. Forget if you can what a blessing Furrey was to the St. Louis Rams.

Good luck with that.

Furrey traveled the outcast pathway along with Mike Martz to Detroit before the beginning of last year and in doing so joined the likes of Ricky Proehl and London Fletcher as some of the biggest boo-boos by Ram hierarchy in letting key personnel get away. And soon to join that list will be another super-hot burning spark plug by the name of Kevin Curtis, who likely will join the Lions receiving corps in 2007 - and flourish in much the same way Furrey did.

Furrey was a huge fan favorite in St. Louis and it wasn't because he was any kind of a diva or even a big play guy. But he, much like Proehl played his heart out every single down and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time in the clutch, and always made the most of his chances.

I for one knew from the very moment I heard he was off to Detroit that he was going to be a huge impact in Mike Martz gun-slinging offensive ways. And his 98 catches this year was tops in the land and you know what? It couldn't have happened to a nicer, more deserving guy.

So congratulations to you Mike Furrey for finally getting the corporate respect you have deserved for a long, long time. This guy's throttle is stuck wide open, and I still scratch my head when I try to understand why in the world the Rams ever let him go. But players like him are too few in this league.

I wish him many more star studded seasons like '06