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TAMPA, Fla. -- Last week, ESPN published a list ranking all 106 players on the two Super Bowl teams' 53-man rosters, from best to worst. At the Arizona Cardinals' media day this morning, hundreds of journalists sought out the player at the top of that list, wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. I sought out the player at the bottom of the list, offensive tackle Elliott Vallejo.Vallejo was standing around on the field at Raymond James Stadium with some of his equally anonymous teammates, and I approached him and put it to him bluntly: "Did you see the ESPN list?"
He smiled and said, "Yep."
I don't think he was exactly eager to discuss his status as the worst player on the field, but once I got him talking, he was surprisingly good-humored about it.
"Well, first of all, there are worse things than being the 106th guy in the Super Bowl," Vallejo said. "A lot of guys on other teams just wish they were at the Super Bowl. There are a whole lot of people who would trade places with me."
But does Vallejo have a problem with it?
"I thought it was a little bit unfair," he told me, "just because I don't think the people who ranked me have really seen me play. I made the active roster and I was active for the first five games, but no one got injured so they started deactivating me so they could activate guys filling in for injured players at other positions. But I think if I got a shot I'd show what I can do."
Vallejo is used to people underestimating him: He was recruited by UCLA and spent a year there as a redshirt in 2002, but the coaches there didn't think he was good enough to play on Saturdays, so he decided to transfer to UC-Davis. He started 32 consecutive games there, and played well enough to convince the Cardinals to offer him a contract as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He was impressive enough in training camp to earn a spot on the practice squad, where he spent all of 2007, and this year he's spent the full season on the 53-man roster.
Vallejo says he knows he still has work to do, but he expects to get on the field in 2009. But for now, he can live with watching the Super Bowl from the sidelines. Even if he is the worst player out there, he's come a long way.
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