Brian Mitchell, the kick returner and running back who has gained more yards than anyone else in NFL history would like to play one more season. But he isn't on a roster with preseason games underway and he says he will wrap up his 14-year career if he hasn't signed with a team by the time the regular season begins next month.
"If the phone rings early enough, I'll play," Mitchell said over the weekend. "If it's too long, I'm done. If they wait until the season starts, I'll move on and do the things I'm doing."
Mitchell, who turns 36 this week, was released by the New York Giants in February. He said his agent, Steve Baker, has been in contact recently with the Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers. But it's only been talk so far, and Mitchell has begun operating a business out of his Northern Virginia home. He has a staffing company up and running, with plans to expand into other fields. He was at FedEx Field for Saturday night's game between the Washington Redskins and Carolina Panthers, working as a studio analyst for Comcast.
"I plan to see how soon I get a call," Mitchell said. "If I don't get a call soon, I'm going to call it quits. . . . We'll see how it works. The thing is, I thought I'd miss it, and I don't miss it. I get up in the morning, work out, play golf and do some things I want to do. I'm doing some business things that interest me."
He has crafted a remarkable career since being drafted in the fifth round by the Redskins in 1990. He was a quarterback at Southwestern Louisiana who never returned a punt or a kickoff in college, yet he became perhaps the most successful return man in NFL history as well as a reliable pass-catching running back. He is the league's leader with 23,330 combined yards (rushing, receiving and return yards), 213 yards ahead of Oakland Raiders wide receiver Jerry Rice. Mitchell has led the league in that category in four different seasons -- a feat matched only by Cleveland Browns Hall of Famer Jim Brown, the league leader in combined yards in five different seasons between 1958 and '64.
If he never plays another game, Mitchell said, he will be proud of what he has done. But he'd rather not go out on the down note of his 2003 season, in which he averaged a career-low 5.3 yards per punt return and 20.3 yards per kickoff return (his lowest figure since 1991) for a Giants team that lost its final eight games, resulting in the firing of Coach Jim Fassel.
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By Mark Maske
Washington Post
Charlie with Brian Mitchell at the 2003 UL Football banquet