McCaffrey’s Release was Reeves’ Biggest Blunder

Gump was a goner.

Ed McCaffrey, a k a Forrest Gump for his hayseed haircut and gawky running style, saw his career flash before his eyes when Dan Reeves cut him from the New York Giants in 1994.

Now one of the NFL’s top receivers and a Pro Bowl selection for the Denver Broncos, McCaffrey will face his tormentor in the Super Bowl.

There won’t be any hugs and kisses. In fact, they may barely acknowledge each other. McCaffrey still is bitter about his release, but the feeling has softened over time.

That may be because Reeves, now coach of the Atlanta Falcons, has said cutting McCaffrey was probably the biggest mistake he ever made.

McCaffrey this season put up the best numbers of his eight-year pro career, with 64 catches for 1,053 yards and 10 touchdowns.

“I can’t think of anyone we’d trade him for,” quarterback John Elway said.

“He’s been a big addition for us,” coach Mike Shanahan said.

In 1994, McCaffrey was a big subtraction from the Giants.

It was July 18, the second day of training camp for New York, and McCaffrey was a restricted free agent who hadn’t signed a contract. He had had two decent seasons for the Giants and felt secure in his job.

But Reeves called, telling him not to bother reporting, that the Giants had enough receivers. McCaffrey and his wife, Lisa, had just moved into a new apartment and had a 2-month-old son.

“All of a sudden, the whole room starts spinning, like ‘This isn’t happening,”’ McCaffrey said. “I really never even saw it coming. I pretty much had to just pack the bags and start flying around the country trying to find a team that had a spot left on their roster.”

McCaffrey caught on with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played mostly on special teams and had just 11 catches for 131 yards. But he made an immediate impression on one particular 49ers assistant--Shanahan.

“I had the luxury of being with Ed for a year when he didn’t play much, just watching him every day on the practice squad going against some of the better defensive backs in the NFL--guys like Deion Sanders, Eric Davis and Merton Hanks,” said Shanahan, who was offensive coordinator for the 49ers that season.

“When you see a guy have success against those DBs consistently, you know good things are going to happen to him. You could see he was a legitimate top receiver in the NFL. And when Eddie came here, he just carried on with his conditioning and his ability to make plays.”

McCaffrey was one of Shanahan’s first acquisitions when he was named head coach of the Broncos in 1995.

When McCaffrey isn’t catching passes, he’s a fearless downfield blocker, one of the best in the game. At 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, he makes an inviting target and takes some vicious shots from defenders but always seems to bounce back, even though he wears a discontinued model of shoulder pads that teammate Harald Hasselbach says “look like pads I would use when I was 8 years old.”

McCaffrey, also nicknamed “White Lightning,” prefers the streamlined look on the field, reducing weight by trimming everything from the lining in his pants to his jock strap. It’s an effort to coax as much speed out of his body as possible and avoid being labeled a big, slow receiver.

Despite that image, McCaffrey isn’t slow, as more than one beaten defensive back can attest.

He also isn’t dumb, possessing a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford as well as a master’s degree in sociology. He plans to attend law or business school when his career is over.

In the locker room, however, McCaffrey takes a lot of grief from teammates about his hair and his unhip wardrobe. He admits he was “pretty dorky in high school,” and his teammates never miss an opportunity to tell him that hasn’t changed.

McCaffrey was once mistakenly kicked off a team bus because he wasn’t recognized and he was also ordered to pick up towels by a locker-room janitor. While he can withstand most of the indignities, he says he doesn’t deserve a reputation as a slow receiver.

McCaffrey said he ran consecutive 4.38 40s before the 1991 draft, and his brother Billy, who played on Duke’s 1991 national championship team and was an All-American point guard at Vanderbilt in ’93 and ‘94, said Ed has always beaten him in races.

Questions about McCaffrey’s speed were rumored to be factors in his release from the Giants.

“I don’t think I’ve ever made a mistake that bad,” Reeves said. “I’ve had guys go play somewhere else, but not go on to the level where they could be an All-Pro and a major contributor on a Super Bowl team.”

McCaffrey said Reeves “paid me one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever been paid, which is that it was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made to cut me.”

“He didn’t have to say that. It meant a lot to me,” McCaffrey said. “It feels good that maybe he didn’t see much in me then, but maybe he regrets his decision.”

Life has worked out nicely for McCaffrey. He endorses hamburgers for McDonald’s and he has his own brand of mustard, horseradish and honey-nut cereal.

Looking back, McCaffrey said, his release by the Giants was “the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Honestly, these sorts of things I never dreamed of,” he said. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it’s actually happening, because when I was released, I was just hoping to play for anyone. I just wanted to make a team.”