When Rod Marinelli was hired to be the new Detroit Lions head coach, he was hesistant to address Joey Harrington's future with the franchise until he hired an offensive coordinator. Well, now that Mike Martz is in the fold and has met with the rest of the front office, the team has apparently decided they will retain the soon-to-be fifth-year QB.
Harrington's four pro seasons have been in the West Coast offense. Martz runs an offense that uses deeper pass routes. The techniques and terminology are different, and Martz said Harrington has to make an adjustment.
"It's a culture shock," Martz said. "It's totally different. All the drops we use -- the terminology is different. Everything is different. It's a new chapter in my life, and I think it's a nice chapter for Joey."
Even with Martz's presence, Harrington clearly doesn't enter the season as one of the top 12 quarterbacks in the NFL, but depending on the rest of their offseason moves (including whether they spend a high draft pick in April), he could turn out to be a very fantasy decent reserve, especially if Martz is also able to help Roy Williams, Charles Rogers and Mike Williams take the next step.
A commenter here has asked before whether Martz's propensity to focus on the passing game over the running game might be cause for concern regarding Kevin Jones. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but some of his other comments weren't exactly encouraging:
Uhmm... fantasy owners are all about increasing Jones' receptions, but let's just hope there any more games in which he's given just five carries. C'mon Martz, don't actually make that part of the gameplan!
This last quote has absolutely zero fantasy ramifications, but it's just one of those things that makes any NFL fan just miss the game right now:
"This is a violent game. You have to practice that violence. You can't just go out on Sunday and be violent. You've got to be in pads shape when you play this game."
I don't care who your favorite team is -- is there anyone out there who can read that last quote and not get psyched up for 2006?
Martz will lead 'culture shock' [Detroit News]