In a profession filled with misnomers – receivers are never really wide, offensive tackles never tackle, and the ball is rarely handled with one’s foot – NFL teams have found out over the past 12 years that perhaps the biggest incongruity involves the highest-paid guys on the field.
After all, free agents are never really free.
Since the Green Bay Packers landed Reggie White to win the biggest prize of the inaugural free-agent class of 1993, teams have combined to throw billions of dollars at guys like Larry Brown, Nate Odomes and David Boston – none of whom ever came close to returning on the investments.
White eventually led the Packers to an improbable Super Bowl win, while Deion Sanders, Charles Haley and Ken Norton have had similar effects over the years. But more often than not, especially in recent years, teams have learned that a high-profile free agent does not guarantee a Super Bowl title.
“Initially, when everybody saw the opportunity to throw money around, teams were a little more willing to try to buy their way to improvement,” Denver Broncos general manager Ted Sundquist said last week. “… Enough clubs had enough situations where they made a mistake, and it came back to haunt them. As we reached Year 10 and beyond, we realized there is room for free agency, but you have to be cautious.”
Not that player movement is a thing of the past. As 28 teams prepare for another NFL season – not to mention the four who kicked off Thursday and Saturday – roster turnover is still the most intriguing part of the game.
Can Terrell Owens and Jevon Kearse push Philadelphia over the top?
Who will get the best of the Champ Bailey-for-Clinton Portis deal?
And will Corey Dillon help the Patriots maintain their hold on the Super Bowl trophy?
All have moved on courtesy of a phenomenon that was once considered endangered in the NFL: The trade. While free agency once ruled over trades, the reverse has been true as of late.
Everything changed following New England’s first Super Bowl title, in 2001. The Patriots had 21 free agents on their roster that year, but only one of them made more than $1 million. The blueprint for free agency had changed, as many teams started looking for the mid-level finds over the high-priced superstars.
Rather than throwing a lot of money at Hugh Douglas, teams are looking for the next Adewale Ogunleye. Drew Bledsoe might look good on paper, but Jake Delhomme looks better on the field.
The Patriots proved that quantity might win out over quality when it comes to free agency, and teams are following suit.
“Sometimes guys look good on paper, and they look good on film, but they’re not a good fit,” said Mark Koncz, director of pro scouting for the Carolina Panthers. “The New England approach was to bring in multiple guys who fit the system and bring team chemistry to the organization. … One player doesn’t always have as much effect on a team as multiple guys.”
This year’s Seattle Seahawks, the vogue pick as the team to beat in the NFC, have taken a retroactive approach. After adding mid-level guys like Robbie Tobeck and Chike Okeafor in recent years, the Seahawks made one of the biggest splashes of the most recent free-agent signing period by giving defensive end Grant Wistrom a team-record $14 million signing bonus. As if that weren’t enough, Seattle addressed another need by adding cornerback Bobby Taylor, a former Pro Bowler, to its young defensive secondary.
On paper, both moves look painfully familiar to blueprints that haven’t worked in the past. But the Seahawks aren’t building their teams around those players. Their priority has been to re-sign their own stars, as has been the case with receiver Darrell Jackson and linebacker Anthony Simmons the past two offseasons, and add missing pieces along the way.
“If you can build your team and keep your team together, that has a lot more benefits than getting someone (new),” Seahawks general manager Bob Ferguson said. “Now, there are people – like Grant and Bobby Taylor for us this year – who can come in and help us. But you have to know the repercussions if you do that.”
Since Green Bay rode White’s capable shoulders to an improbable Super Bowl, free agency hasn’t had quite the payoff many expected.
Take, for example, the past seven Super Bowl champions. New England (twice), Tampa Bay, Baltimore, St. Louis and Denver (twice) have either done it mostly with homegrown talent – Tom Brady, Terrell Davis, Ray Lewis, to name a few – or players acquired in trades – Marshall Faulk, and let’s not forget that John Elway was originally a Baltimore Colt.
Not since Green Bay’s Desmond Howard in Super Bowl XXXI has a veteran free agent gone on to be named Super Bowl MVP.
That might explain why, after the initial rush of players like Wistrom, Kearse and Shawn Springs, many high-profile players continued to wait for their phones to ring last March. Jeff Garcia, Warren Sapp, Duce Staley and Ruben Brown were among those who saw less interest than originally expected.
In addition to New England’s first Super Bowl win, there are a number of factors that go into the league’s decreasing emphasis on free agency. With 13 years of blueprints to consider, teams have realized the importance of keeping personnel together. They have also found out how devastating it can be to a salary cap if a high-priced free agent gets hurt or fizzles out.
In the new-look NFL, where teams are entirely capable of going from pretenders to contenders overnight, missing pieces don’t always cost an arm and a leg.
“With the popularity of fantasy football, everybody wants to see the big name in the papers,” Carolina’s Koncz said. “They might want to see the star’s name, but maybe he’s not the best fit. Maybe the better guy is the young guy who hasn’t had a chance or the backup quarterback with the Saints who has something to prove.”
As Delhomme, the former Saints backup has shown, those guys work out sometimes. It might not get quite the publicity, but sometimes it’s enough to bring home a trophy.
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