24 Hours Into Free Agency and Who Are the Early Winners and Losers?
Published by Randy Lutz on March 6, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Here we are, 24 hours into free agency and there have already been some clear cut winners. I’ll take a look at a few of them here, and explain to you the impact the moves that have been made today will have around the league.
The Bears made early and precise moves entering into free agency. Head coach Lovie Smith was already off the plane and ready meet with Julius Peppers and his agent at midnight last night. That meeting took place, beginning at 12:01 am, and ended today in Chicago when Peppers signed his name to a 6 year deal with the Bears.
The Bears also added RB Chester Taylor (formerly of their division rival Minnesota Vikings ) and TE Brandon Manumaleuna, widely regarded as one of the best blocking tight ends in the game. Both players’ sets of skills fit like they were custom made for the offense coordinator Mike Martz runs in Chicago, and both should make an immediate impact in Chicago. In addition, stealing a rival’s backup RB is a shrewd move. I like that sort of craftiness that no one sees coming.
The Ravens really have only signed one free agent worth speaking about, Donte Stallworth-and that wasn’t in the last 20 hours. What they have managed to do however, is trade for stud receiver Anquan Boldin. They followed that up by signing Boldin to a 4 year, $28 million deal. The Ravens have finally done what it took Philadelphia the better part of a decade to do with their Pro Bowl QB McNabb, they’ve surrounded their up and coming QB with talent at the skill positions.
Baltimore may no longer have what most would consider an elite defense, but they certainly still have a very solid unit on that side of the ball, and a successful scheme coupled with a strong leader in Ray Lewis . Putting this kind of unit together on the offensive side of the ball turns Baltimore into a legitimate contender for the AFC Championship.
Anytime you improve one of the best units in the league, you make ripples and have to be considered the biggest news of the day. Any mediocre team can improve, any lousy team can improve, but it’s rare that one of the best improves and that’s all the Jets have done since free agency began 24 hours ago. They’ve done it without signing or cutting anyone (actually they did cut Thomas Jones, which was fairly foolish).
I guess that is the one knock on them was the way they dealt with Thomas Jones, which was absolutely foolish. To save a few million in an uncapped year. Okay, a few million is some serious cash I get that but this is a guy who earned that bonus. He carried your offense throughout the regular and post season and now you’re trying to cheap out on him? This type of move is what undermines all of the chemistry that Rex Ryan and the Jets have built up.
Washington Redskins (kind of honorable mention)
Sometimes the best action is inaction. The Redskins finally didn’t throw ridiculous amounts of money at the best free agent on the market, which is truly more amazing than if they had thrown nine figures his way. The fact that the influence of both GM Bruce Allen and Head Coach Mike Shanahan has apparently changed the Redskins building strategy already is likely very encouraging to Washington fans.
Honorable mention winners:
The Lions – They’ve made some moves and solidified their line while preparing for what appears to be a plan to draft Ndamukong Suh if he’s still available when they pick second. Great to see a team make an effort to turn things around.
The Seahawks – So they lost Burleson, but I think there’s a very real chance the Seahawks land Marshall, who is scheduled to visit them tomorrow. If he does they’ll lose a first round pick, but they’ve got another so that’s okay. Pairing him with TJ Houshmandzadeh would make the Seahawks the owners of one of the best WR tadems in the league, second only perhaps to New England’s combination of Randy Moss and Wes Welker .
Losers
If someone wins, another person (or team) has to lose, that’s just the way it works. Here are a few teams that lost in the past 20 hours:
The Panthers : They not only lost free agent Julius Peppers, as expected but they also cut longtime QB Jake Delhomme . I saw a post earlier today that read “Panthers extended Delhomme’s contract 5 years last season to make room in their cap for franchising Peppers. Now neither player is on the roster and they still owe Delhomme around $13 million.” Man if I were a Panthers fan, the fact that Matt Moore went 4-1 last year as a starter just would not be comforting enough…
The Raiders
The Raiders haven’t really done anything yet, however I’m putting them on this list for two reasons:
1) They are sure to do something foolish and make me look good for adding them here
2) They tendered CB Stanford Routt at the first and third level, guaranteeing him a bunch more money than he’s worth this year. I see it as a sign of things to come. Disagree if you want, but until they prove me wrong I stand by it. Look for that punter Zoltan (or was that the guy from the movie Big ?) to go No. 8 overall to Oakland in this year’s draft. (Okay, I’m obviously just kidding there, but they’ll surely do something utterly ridiculous).
The Cardinals
The Cardinals were the biggest losers of the day, as they saw both Antrel Rolle (Giants ) and Karlos Dansby (Dolphins ) both sign with other teams. I can only imagine how frustrating such a day might be for a Cardinals fan.
I saw first hand how irritating it is to a player, reading Darnell Dockett’s tweets. He writes, frustrated that division rivals Seattle and San Francisco are sitting pretty, working on improving drastically for next season “why why why why…” and goes on to say “Man losing all the guys that helped build A program from nothing hurts bad. I’m gonna miss No. 13, No. 81, No. 58, No. 92 and now only hope I GOT (No. 21)?”
The last part is in reference to safety Antrel Rolle, who signed with the Giants a few hours after that tweet.
He later tweets (again prior to Antrel Rolle’s signing) “I’d take a paycut to keep Antrel Rolle #21!!! I don’t know if it would help much but I will!!” This is obviously a very frustrating time to be a Cardinals player.
That makes the Cardinals truly the biggest losers on the day. It looks like a trip back to anonymity for the Cardinals (let’s face it, they’re really going back home as a franchise) and possibly a trip back to the top for teams like the 49ers and Seahawks.
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