sad to see harris go

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At least Al Harris knew he was going to be cut before it went public. That nullifies any kind of a public relations poo-poo, lol.

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He had a hunch, a gut feeling, a sense that the end was near. But neither of the men in charge spoke with him prior to the release.

How is that letting him know?

Per Mike's presser, they hadn't talked to him yet.

I read the several different articles on Harris's statements last night.. no where was it implied that Harris had been informed from Ted nor Mike.

Make a decision, pull the player in an inform him, pull the trigger on the transaction, move forward. Seems relatively simple and professional to me.

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Just watched Mike's Monday presser, and based on what he said: 10:30 AM is when the decision to let Al go was finalized after a meeting was called, and as Mike left that meeting Ted was trying to get a hold of Al to inform him.

So Ted may actually have informed Al during the time the meeting ended and the time McCarthy began his presser (I think it began 12:30, but not sure).

Considering it is usually McCarthy who talks to released players - and he also was the one directly communicating with Favre when the fiasco was in full swing - I think it is a nice touch that Ted was the one trying to contact and personally speak with Al.

Also, from the presser it seems the decision to cut Al came down to the fact that he'd be the Nickle, but couldn't play special teams. Clearly, McCarthy expects his Nickle to play on some Special Teams, and given Al's situation activating him meant taking a spot from a more versatile player. Under that basis, releasing him seems reasonable.

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Man, sad to see him go :/

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Well if that is the time line.. then I stand corrected and back down from my speculation.

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IMO just looking at things objectively they weren't at this point going to put Shields on the bench for Harris based on the way he has been playing. So the choice is let Harris go and try to get a starting job somewhere else or have him sit on the bench (possibly the rest of the season) maybe only getting to play if someone gets hurt.

Then you have your guy on the bench who doesn't play special teams while you possibly don't activate someone else who could be playing significant special teams snaps.

I also don't really buy McCarthy's reasoning that it wasn't a physical reason that they released him. It almost certainly was IMO but I wouldn't expect him to come out and say it because that would just completely screw Al over. Could you imagine what it would do to Al's chances of getting picked up on waivers or getting a free agent workout if his head coach just comes out and says "yeah we released Al Harris because his knee is shot and he cannot play any more."

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If he was 28 instead of 35 I think they would've retained him. Best of luck (just not with the Vikings PLEASE!!!)

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VERY happy by the implicit confirmation that they feel good about our top 3 CBs going forward and hopefully into next season. Tramon is swiftly becoming an elite player and Shields has been more than solid with tons of upside in his rookie season.

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Sucks to see Al go but this really is a testament to how deep our secondary is. Good Luck Al..

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