It was far from inevitable that this would be the outcome, but that hardly matters now. Jason Snelling is back in the fold.
The signing gives us a glimpse into what happened over the last couple of weeks, as Snelling shopped his services to the league and the Falcons waited for him to sign a tender. While the financial terms are not yet available, the Falcons chose to offer Big Snell a single-year deal. Feeling he could do better on the open market, our favorite backup running back tried and failed to do exactly that.
In many ways, this is a good deal for both sides. The Falcons get Snelling back to stabilize a running back depth chart that included Michael Turner, rookie Jacquizz Rodgers and unproven Antone Smith and Gartrell Johnson. His return ensures that the Falcons have a capable, versatile back who can handle the bulk of the load should Turner go down, Football Gods forbid. There were simply too many unknowns without him.
On the other side of the ledger, Snelling gets a chance to have a great year and build up his value a bit. Running backs find themselves less valued than ever before, so having a 2010 in which he averaged only 3.7 yards a carry probably hurt Snelling's stock more than he or any of us realized. If he can get closer to four yards a carry, catch a few passes and block well, maybe he'll get more interest next year.
Either way, I'm glad to have Snelling back. Let's hope he has a nice year but doesn't get too many carries, given the implications that would have for Turner's health. What say you?