Is This Wasting a Roster Spot?

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

Eric LeGrand has been signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A football player injured two years ago, paralyzed from the neck down, and currently confined to a wheelchair has been offered, and accepted, a contract in the NFL to be on the roster.

This is not a charity move. This is not a waste of a roster spot. This is not doing someone a favor. This is a great move by a new coach who will ultimately be judged for his X's and O's and how they translate to victories. While I hope he succeeds in this area, ultimately I could care less because Coach Greg Schiano is already a winner.

Eric LeGrand earned this contract, just the same as any drafted or free agent player earned theirs. He couldn't provide combine numbers or great plays on tape from his senior year at Rutgers.  But he could and did provide Coach Schiano with qualities that can't be measured, and messages that he knew would make LeGrand successful and help his young Buccaneers. He could provide the example and demonstration of believing.  

Every player on every team has a role, some are more visible than others. Some are more measurable than others. Some create cheers and some create stardom. LeGrand may not make any tackles next year and he may not sack any quarterbacks, but he will play a role on a team. Eric LeGrand will have a dynamic role and I suspect it will have a longer lasting impact than any of the other 89 roles during the next 16 games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Someone will make a great catch, maybe in the third game and someone else may kick a game winning field goal in the ninth game. Yet another player may set a team record over the 16 game season. Maybe some Buccaneer will even lead the NFL in an important category. I am betting that Eric LeGrand will provide the example and motivation however, that one of these players remembers and relates to someone else 20 years from now. I am betting that Eric LeGrand will be mentioned by 89 other football players proud to have been on his team.

LeGrand probably won't be around them very much, though he does plan to go to Tampa and meet players, and, he hopes, begin to do some motivational speaking. He is currently training as well for a broadcasting job. His motivational speaking will continue and he hopes to have several avenues in which to get his message across. It will begin with the lucky members of the Bucs squad.

Meanwhile, stores will soon fill with the new football jerseys from top draft picks, superstars in the making. In Tampa Bay, I am betting #52, LeGrand, will be the top seller. Just the fact that Nike is producing a jersey for the last man on a football roster says something. Not putting down any current players or denying the excitement of incoming draft picks, just believing that despite the excitement generated by a new season, Eric LeGrand and his type of message will exceed them all.

As a die hard Cleveland Browns fan and non-supporter of Nike, I WILL be buying a #52 LeGrand Buccaneers Nike jersey. Some messages just shout louder and are more important than others....believe...

All this because I know more about nothing...