jaxvid said:
Furrey's out for the year, the Lions buried him on IR ending his season, the same thing they did to Kitna, and like Kitna Furrey is not happy. He's had a concussion and it's not a season ending thing. The real story is the Lions are cleaning house for next year and it's clear Furrey is out.
It's very unlikely the new regime will be sympathetic to a white "possesion" reciever. My prediction has come to pass, although it was an easy call, a couple of years after leading the NFC in receptions Furrey will be dispatched to neverland. If he was black he'd have been guaranteed 5 years of starting gigs and big contracts. Instead he was benched the following season and gradually phased out. All the while the Lions became worse and worse.
Furrey's done. I knew it was coming but it's still hard to take.
Lions to release receiver Furrey
John Niyo / The Detroit News
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Lions officially introduced their new offensive coordinator, former St. Louis Rams head coach Scott Linehan, today in Allen Park.
"But he's not my offensive coordinator," Lions receiver Mike Furrey said Wednesday morning from Tampa, where he was participating in a charity event in conjunction with Super Bowl XLIII.
So make that former Lions receiver Mike Furrey, who said he was told Tuesday morning in a brief phone call from Lions general manager Martin Mayhew that he was being released by the team with a year remaining on his contract.
Furrey, who signed a three-year, $9.25 million contract with the Lions in January 2007, had a contentious end to his season with Lions management. After suffering a concussion Nov. 9 against Jacksonville, he was placed on injured reserve Dec. 1, a move he said publicly he disagreed with at the time. Furrey also was among a handful of players who were openly critical of the Lions' shift in offensive philosophy last season.
"(Mayhew) just called to say they were calling the guys they were releasing, and that was the gist of the conversation," Furrey said. "I said, 'Thanks' and that was it.
"The conversation was real brief. But I wasn't surprised at all. We butted heads toward the end of the season. And it's because I wanted to win. I was sick of losing, sick of going out on Sundays without a chance to win. And it had nothing to do with (coach Rod) Marinelli. I believe in him 100 percent. But I believe things just funneled down from the top, and I wanted to win as much as anybody else."
The Lions haven't confirmed the roster move yet. But Furrey already is moving on.
"I'm happy," he said. "I got the call right before we were boarding the plane yesterday to come to Tampa. And it's a burden off my back. I'm relaxed and I'm happy and I'm ready to go start a new career somewhere and help another team win a Super Bowl."
Furrey had 18 catches for 181 yards in 2008. In his first season in Detroit (2006), he caught 98 passes for 1,086 yards and six touchdowns.
