With the offseason maximum roster size at 90 players per team, a total of 2,880 jobs currently are available. Like Michael Sam and Vince Young, running back Ray Rice hasn’t received an offer for one of them.
Unlike Sam and Young, Rice won’t be working out for teams next month. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Rice does not plan to attend the March 22 veteran combine.
While for many reasons it makes little sense for Sam and Young to show up for a mass workout when any interested team could fly the players to town at any time for a private tryout, neither Sam nor Young carry the baggage Rice does. Any NFL franchise sufficiently curious about Rice’s current talent and fitness level to watch him run and jump and cut and catch would have to endure the criticism that would come from flirting with the man whose on-camera elevator knockout of his then-fiancée became a national lightning rod in September 2014.
By watching Rice work out at a mass gathering of players no one currently wants, an interested team could discreetly eyeball Rice without taking heat for it. So it would make sense for Rice, who still hopes to return to the NFL, to show up and work out.
Indeed, showing up and working out would make a lot more sense -- and be a lot more effective -- than a Hail Mary interview with the local newspaper in the city where he used to play.