FanHouse ReggieHayward

The longest rookie holdout in team history has finally ended, and Derrick Harvey is officially a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars, at least if you believe what John Clayton is reporting at the WWL (via PFT).

A month of stalled negotiations came to an end when Harvey and the Jaguars found creative ways to get around the differences between the seventh pick and the ninth picks in the draft. According to a source, Harvey will receive guarantees of $17,177,500.

His base package will be $23.8 million over the five years. The key tradeoff that ended the holdout was the ability to get $6.2 million of incentives and escalators based on playing time. A source said those escalators and incentives have less of a trigger than the picks above and below him.

Ironic isn't it? Sitting out to get bigger incentives? Or maybe it's not ironic, I can't even really tell anymore. What it is is "too little too late" in terms of Harvey making a timely appearance on the team. He'll still play some, but Paul Spicer is clearly locked and Reggie Hayward has been playing well.

Bear in mind though that Clayton is saying Harvey's contract can get as high as $ 33.4 mil if he makes the Pro Bowl, which means that he should at the very least push the veteran for playing time, assuming he can get caught up. Still, though, missing all of camp and enraging a pretty tranquil fan base just in the name of boosting incentives seems a little ridiculous.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterback: David Garrard threw all of three interceptions last year. Three. Three. Despite his questionable pedigree from the Eastern part of my fair state, his incredibly efficient performance earned him a pimped out $60 million deal. If the Jags new-old wideouts can ever get healthy, Garrard might actually live up to the lofty expectations he'll be staring down this season. Heat Index: 8

Running Back: When will Fred Taylor stop? Ever? And will Maurice Jones-Drew be ready for a full time gig when he does? Why is Greg Jones getting paid so much to be a glorified quasi goalline fullback? Why do I have so many friggin' questions about a team that finished second in the NFL in rushing yards per game last year at 149.4? Heat Index: 10

Receivers: Guh. The Jags went out and got Jerry Porter in the offseason to give Garrard a "legit" first option and he immediately got hurt. They also added Troy Williamson who has shown a penchant for dropping the ball, but like Mittens in Carolina, we probably have to reserve judgment until we find out if his greasy mitts in Minny were a result of Tavaris Jackson cooties. Heat Index: 3

After joining Jacksonville as a free agent in 2005, Reggie Hayward appeared to be the pass rusher the Jaguars needed, tallying up 8.5 sacks in the first year of his big $25 million contract.

Then in 2006, Hayward snapped his Achilles tendon in the first game of the year and missed the rest of the season. Fortunately for the Jags, he's back in camp and ready to pick up where he left off, thanks to the help of one very famous doctor.

Renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews performed the procedure to repair Hayward's left Achilles and, according to the defensive end, there's an approximate 1 percent chance for re-injury.

Those are pretty good odds. If those tendons hold up and Hayward returns to his old form, he and Bobby McCray, who had 10.5 sacks last season as Hayward's replacement, could potentially be the best pass-rushing combo in the league in 2007. You might want to take another look at how many points QB sacks are worth in your fantasy league.