If there is one thing a common job seeker can say, it’s the fact that they can quit and move on from a job to another at any given point. You can always be a free agent, looking for the best qualified offer. In athletics, when you’re unhappy with a contract you can voice your opinion like a little kid and still get no results. At the end of the day, your contract binds you to obey and fulfill until it expires. Few complaints can be brought up if you want to participate in the sport and earn a pay check.

Travis Henry’s situation is starting to get ugly, and the Bills are doing all the shopping they can to unload him. Henry hasn’t shown up to mini camp, and shouldn’t risk injury for a team that doesn’t want him. That’s fully understandable, as his future for the next two to three seasons is on the line.

Patience is the best virtue plan for Henry. There were three different time frames in the off-season that a deal could have been done for Henry. One was in the early stages of free agency and another was draft day. Of course neither happened, and it wasn’t as if Buffalo wasn’t attempting. They were doing everything possible to work out the long negotiated talks between the Cardinals for LJ Shelton. Obviously a certain side didn’t think the trade offer was rational or needed, as just a week ago Dennis Green unloaded Shelton into the free agent market.

The third and last stage that Henry can and will likely be traded is during the important summer months of June, July, and maybe even August. Coaches are always on the hot seat, and maybe a running back drafted or coming back isn’t setting a solid approval expectation for the 2005 season. That or a serious injury happens to a team’s star running back, and all of the sudden it’s time for the emergency backup plan. It’s not a matter of when that’ll happen to one of the thirty one teams in the NFL, it’s a question of when.

It happens every year, and when it does, Henry would automatically be the first ding-ding and best solution for a team’s short term problems. He is an all-pro running back that’s contract will be expiring after the upcoming season. So basically, he’ll have the opportunity to market himself for the big dollars. We all know how an athlete can respond when a contract year comes along. All of the sudden each week turns into a career day, and late season fatigue, fumbling problems, and the whole nine are absent.

The Buffalo organization also isn’t stupid. They know that if they let Henry sit, he is going to waltz out of Buffalo like he never had been there. So they might as well get what they can for him now, before they let him walk away empty handed. A third round draft pick may be the best offer they can get, but who knows who that pick could end up meaning to the Bills franchise.

Henry has been a strong back throughout his career, even though he still tends to fumble too much. His short size and strength is parallel to Ahman Green, and he may even possess more speed than the shifty Green.

When the 2005 season kicks off, there is absolutely no doubt that Travis Henry will be wearing a different uniform.