D.J. Shockley is out for the year, and a team that began the season with Michael Vick, Harrington and Shock on its roster now features Harrington, Redman, and Bramlet. I don't have to tell any of you that we've taken many mighty strides backward from the beginning of the season. At best, it makes our quarterback depth precariously thin. At worst, Harrington falters and then what? There's currently no one behind him on the depth chart who I would trust to start more than one game. If the Falcons can get Kelly Holcomb for a low-round draft pick, it might actually be worth the gamble. Yet there's still no guarantee that he'll be an upgrade; he's never looked like a bad QB, but there has to be some reason teams aren't tripping over themselves to start the guy. This is a hardly ideal situation.
Whether or not you were rooting for Shockley to take the job, this is still disappointing. He seemed like a good guy, a local kid with a lot of expectations on his shoulders. Chances are he never would have fufilled them, but he had promise and people from around the ATL loved him. Now his leg's all torn up and he'll have to sit for a while before he can even have surgery to fix it. It's a damn shame that the season ended before it even began for D.J. Shockley, and I'll be rooting for him to come back stronger next year. We may very well need the help.