As I watched the AFC Championship game, I wrote a note to myself in the third quarter to revisit in the blog later: How much has Willis McGahee helped his market value in the playoffs?

He certainly ran with a burst we didn't see most of the season; like the '07 workmanlike McGahee. He still doesn't press the hole enough, but he wasn't bad.

Then his scary neck injury happened, although it sounds like that won't be a long-term problem. And now the Baltimore Sun reports that McGahee would count $11 million against the cap in 2009, even if released.

Well, then. Despite a lot of reporting from Mike Preston this season that McGahee would likely be a goner in the offseason, he's not going anywhere - if that number is true. The figure seems oddly high based on what we know of McGahee's contract, but we probably don't know everything and will have to trust the reporting. If the number is right, McGahee's market value doesn't matter. Baltimore will try to motivate him to get in better shape and put him back into the mix in 2009. Maybe the Ravens backfield can defend their crown as most frustrating backfield next season.