Joey Harrington's four-year run as the Detroit Lions' starting quarterback -- and their leading punching bag -- appears close to finally ending.
The Lions on Thursday agreed on a two-year contract with Josh McCown, an unrestricted free agent who had spent all four years of his career with the Arizona Cardinals.
With the Lions having signed Jon Kitna, a former Cincinnati Bengals backup, to a four-year deal this week, they now have two new quarterbacks to compete for the starting job next season. And that leaves Harrington, who was the third pick in the 2002 draft, moving toward the exit, with the Lions expected to try to trade him or release him.
In January Harrington sounded unenthusiastic about returning to Detroit, questioning whether he could succeed, even with the support of a new coach, in an atmosphere that last season turned poisonous.
Harrington started 11 games in 2005, was benched in favor of his backup, Jeff Garcia, then was blamed by a teammate when coach Steve Mariucci was fired.
Harrington ended up 18-37 in his four seasons in Detroit, but he is hardly alone in deserving blame for the Lions' misfortunes. The team's president, Matt Millen, took over in January 2001 and is already on his third head coach; Rod Marinelli, a Tampa Bay assistant, was hired in January. And in the three previous drafts, Millen selected a wide receiver in the first round, ostensibly to shore up the offense around Harrington, who is being pushed out before he gets near a US$4 million bonus due in June.
Harrington's backup last season, Garcia, signed a one-year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday.
Garcia and Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb should have plenty to talk about in quarterback meetings.
Garcia's was a three-time Pro Bowl selection for San Francisco.
"I don't have a problem with the guy," Garcia said of Owens at a news conference in Philadelphia. "The guy is a tremendous player on the field. Everyone has seen that, and I have been a part of that. It takes a team to succeed on the field, so no way do I ever point at one person as being the reason why we were winning or losing football games. But he certainly is a difference-maker. If I were able to have the opportunity to be a teammate of his again, I would not back down from it."
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday led the way into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, with Carlos Alcaraz hot on their heels after a straight-sets victory of his own. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match weather delay lasting nearly three hours as he advanced 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Adrian Mannarino. Alcaraz, the second seed who has reached the final in his past six tournaments, hammered Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4. After sweeping the opening set in 28 minutes, Alcaraz hit a speed bump, dropping his serve to trail 2-4. He promptly regained the break, then fought through a marathon ninth game
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
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