Once upon a time, long before NFL personnel people wised up, the start of the free-agency period was almost as anticipated as the start of the regular season.
Teams would target their high-priced players, then wine and dine them, flying them in for limousine service and tours of their city in hopes they would get their signatures on the dotted line.
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| 'Skins owner Dan Snyder tends to keep things moving in free agency.(Getty Images) |
Boy, have times changed. The salary cap did that.
When the bills from all that wild spending came due, teams couldn't believe what they had done. It was fun while it lasted, but when there was no money to pay the bills, all the good times went for naught.
Credit counseling couldn't fix the damage, but it worked to help teach the lesson.
No more.
So instead of searching for treasures among other people's trash, teams are now more apt to look for it in their own receptacles. Why pay big money for someone else's player when the best answer might be right in front of your face?
Re-signing players before they hit the market has become more of the norm than paying big money for other team's top free agents.
That, in essence, has rendered the start of free agency to a mere thump instead of a bang. Sure, some players will still get big deals, but for the most part the market isn't so fruitful anymore.
The days of players making tours are over. It's more like this: Here's your offer, take it or leave it.
Hugh Douglas signed a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars last year without ever visiting the city. He then spent the year cursing his decision.
Did the Jaguars regret that signing? You bet, which is why like many teams they will be a little more hesitant to make the big deal this time around.
Free agency isn't what it used to be.
And that might not be such a bad thing.
With that, here are eight questions to ponder heading into the opening of the period:
1) Has the success of the New England Patriots, winning two of the past three Super Bowls without many stars, changed the way teams look at free agency?
That theory that teams will look for a handful of lower-priced players in free agency, imitating the Patriots, is one that is being bandied quite often. The personnel people are also talking the talk, too. But does anybody really believe it?
"Look at all the franchise tags," said one NFC coach. "Does that mean low-priced players? No. Teams are still going to spend to get the good players."
As they say in some scouting circles: You can't win the Kentucky Derby with a mule. It takes players, good ones. So if a team targets a star player, you can bet that player will get paid.
The Redskins have already anted up for Mark Brunell and Clinton Portis, while the Broncos have agreed to give Champ Bailey a shiny, new deal.
"The Patriots did it their way, but that doesn't mean it's the only way," said an NFC personnel director. "Teams will still run after the stars."
2) As the big-ticket item of free agency, is Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse worth the risk of a huge contract with a big signing bonus?
We love Kearse as a player -- and as a guy. He plays the game hard and when he's healthy he is one of the best pass rushers in the game. And pass rushers like Kearse are worth every penny they get.
With the NFL a league of tight games, one big play by a disruptive pass rusher in the fourth quarter can turn a game's outcome. Sack, fumble, turnover can change a loss to a victory in a hurry.
So is Kearse worth the money? Yes. With one big caveat: Is he healthy?
Any team willing to risk the kind of money he's asking -- he turned down a $16 million signing bonus from the Titans -- had better make sure their medical reports give him full clearance.
Drew Rosenhaus, Kearse's agent, has been on a roll so far this spring. He got Clinton Portis a new deal that makes Portis the highest-paid runner in the league, and he landed punter Chris Hanson an impressive deal in Jacksonville. There should be no reason to doubt his ability to get Kearse a huge deal from some team such as the Redskins.
Don't be shocked to see that $20 million signing bonus find its way to Kearse, courtesy of Dan Snyder.
3) What's up with the 49ers, releasing Jeff Garcia and trying to peddle Terrell Owens?
You mean Tim Rattay/ Ken Dorsey to Brandon Lloyd doesn't excite you if you are a 49ers fan?
By releasing Garcia on Tuesday instead of paying him a $500,000 roster bonus, the 49ers are now in rebuilding mode. They will start either Rattay or Dorsey, who the staff loves.
Maybe this is a bit of arrogance on the part of the 49ers, much like Denver thinking any back can run behind its line. The 49ers believe any quarterback can work in their system. Garcia did come from nowhere to be good in it, so why not Rattay or Dorsey?
As for Owens, his agent blew it when he didn't meet the deadline to exercise the escape clause in his contract, a clause that would have made Owens an unrestricted free agent.
Owens is still property of the 49ers, even though they do not really want him.
He is scheduled to have a cap figure of $8.6 million, something the 49ers want off their books. So the team's hope is to trade him, but whoever trades for him will assume the three years left on his contract, which will pay him $5.3 million this season, $5.9 in 2005 and $6.5 in 2006.
That's a lot of cash for a 30-year-old receiver who dropped his share of balls last year and is coming off a season that ended with a broken collarbone. Maybe the 49ers are doing the right thing in blowing it all up. Start over. But in doing so, this will be a bad team with all the moves they've made.
And Bay Area-fans thought they had it bad with the Warriors.
4) Who are the free agents flying under the radar who could get more play than thought?
Keep an eye on Lions defensive end James Hall and Giants defensive tackle Cornelius Griffin.
Both players are getting talked-up big time by coaches and personnel people as free agency gets ready to start. In fact, word is the price for Griffin has already jumped up because there could be such a high demand.
At 6-feet-2, 270 pounds, Hall started 16 games last year and appears to be a rising player. He had 4 1/2 sacks, 59 tackles and two forced fumbles. He has pass-rush skills.
Griffin is a 300-pound player who just turned 27 in December. After an impressive rookie season in 2000 -- he had five sacks -- he has not played as well the past couple of years. He had just one sack last season, but teams are confident that a change of location would be good for his career.
5) Which players will get overpaid?
A year ago, the Lions overpaid for Rams corner Dre' Bly, although he did play well and went to the Pro Bowl. With an abundance of corners on the market his year, many teams are still cursing that deal, which averaged $5 million a year.
So who will be the player to get the contract that will set off all the cursing this year?
The Rams defensive end is a good football player, but not a great one. He had 7 1/2 sacks last year for the Rams, and is an effort player, but he turned down an offer from the Rams because he wanted more money than fellow end Leonard Little. The Rams said no, signed guard Adam Timmerman to a new deal, and will let Wistrom go.
Fact about the move: Tyoka Jackson and Bryce Fisher, the two players who will replace Wistrom, had 7 1/2 sacks between them last season, tying Wistrom's number.
Even so, defensive ends are so tough to find that some team will pay big for Wistrom. It could be the Chiefs.
Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil loves Wistrom and coached him when the Rams won the Super Bowl in 1999. New Bears coach Lovie Smith was the Rams defensive coordinator the past two seasons. A tough, tenacious player like Wistrom would play well in Chicago, but buyer beware: Wistrom is a good player, not a great one.
6) Where are all the free-agent quarterbacks?
Signed, sealed and delivered. Teams do not let good quarterbacks get on the market. Brunell would have made several teams get into a bidding war if the Redskins had not traded for him, but with him off the market the pickings are slim.
The top quarterback might be a guy coming off a season that ended with a ruptured spleen. That says something about the market.
That player is Billy Volek, who backed up Steve McNair in Tennessee. He is did a decent job in his only start, but the hype on him is far too great for his abilities. Some insist he can be this year's Jake Delhomme.
Delhomme played well last year, but he isn't to be confused with a top 15 quarterback. Volek isn't either.
The other available passers, such as Atlanta's Doug Johnson and Brian Griese, haven't exactly taken their chances to play and made the most out of them.
Look at the bright side: There are three top quarterbacks in the draft, not counting Drew Henson.
7) What is the most-overlooked part of free agency?
Tampering. Every team and every agent, despite the denials, is guilty of tampering. But the league turns a blind eye to it because everybody does it.
You don't think team executives travel to Hawaii Pro Bowl week for vacations, do you?
They're there to meet with agents and pending free agents. Years ago, teams would call out other teams for tampering, with Jacksonville being one team that often was mentioned in the md-1990s.
Now they all do it, so how can one team call out another when its own affairs are not in order? Teams already know the figures being bandied about for players, even though they can't legally have conversations until March 3.
Like they say, it isn't speeding unless you get caught. Nobody is getting caught, so that must mean it isn't tampering.
8) Which player is in for the biggest disappointment on the market?
Hint: He's fat, loud and his name rhymes with crap, the way he treats people.
Yep, Warren Sapp.
The 31-year-old Sapp is still a decent player, but not nearly the player he was a couple of years ago. Then there's the age issue. He is certainly on the downslope of his career.
So any team that wants to take the chance and sign him must be willing to give him a deal that is essentially a three-year deal.
There are some good things. He can make players around him better, and he plays hard when he's focused and he still can be disruptive in the middle of a defense.
But it has to be the right fit. There was talk the Ravens would make a move on Sapp, but where does he play in their defense? He isn't big enough for the nose and the ends in a 3-4 defense are not much more than occupiers to free up the others to make plays. Sapp would cost too much for that role.
Somebody will pay him a decent wage. It just won't be the mega-deal he thinks he's going to get -- unless Dan Snyder tries to play GM again.
