Free Agency 2009 Retrospective

[Retemnav]

It's super important to be really active in Free Agency and make a big splash early, right?

The Big Winners:

Last year, the consensus TOP FA landing was the Redskins signing of Albert Haynesworth, who was going to make an already good D dominate. Results? A 4-12 season, no playoffs.

Denver, meanwhile, signed 8 players early, including big deals for Andre' Goodman and Brian Dawkins. Results? A 8-8 season, no playoffs.

The Chiefs picked up Matt Cassel, and while they weren't going anywhere because of the total rebuilding going on there, it's not like Matt led them to even a mediocre season (4-12).

The Seahawks pounced on T.J. Houshmanzahdah early, who was going to lead them back to dominance in the West. Results? A 5-11 season, no playoffs.

The Giants got two new shiny tackles to pair on their dominant line, Rocky Bernard and Chris Canty. They were going back to the Super Bowl! Results? A 8-8 season, no playoffs.

The Rams paid $7 million a year for center Jason Brown, the first key in a new OL that was going to pave the way for Stephen Jackons. Results? 1-15.

The Big Losers:

The Cowboys weren't picking up anyone! And they let their starting CB Anthony Henry go for peanuts, as well as letting TO walk. Results? A 11-5 season.

The Eagles had finally slipped from dominance, what with losing Brian Dawkins, Lito Shepperd and Correll Buckhalter. And they hadn't brought in anyone for McNabb to throw to, despite folks like T.J. being on the market! Results? A 11-5 season.

Meanwhile:

16 days into FA, the Saints signed a little hearlded contract with Darren Sharper, obviously far too late to make any sort of difference to their Super Bowl aspirations...

-

So did anyone use have a "big splash" in the FA market in 2009 that actually made them a better team? The Jets picked up Bart Scott from the Ravens, and had a good season. The Ravens picked up Domonique Foxworth (but also lost Bart Scott) and had a good season.

[panthers55]

It's super important to be really active in Free Agency and make a big splash early, right?

The Big Winners:

Last year, the consensus TOP FA landing was the Redskins signing of Albert Haynesworth, who was going to make an already good D dominate. Results? A 4-12 season, no playoffs.

Denver, meanwhile, signed 8 players early, including big deals for Andre' Goodman and Brian Dawkins. Results? A 8-8 season, no playoffs.

The Chiefs picked up Matt Cassel, and while they weren't going anywhere because of the total rebuilding going on there, it's not like Matt led them to even a mediocre season (4-12).

The Seahawks pounced on T.J. Houshmanzahdah early, who was going to lead them back to dominance in the West. Results? A 5-11 season, no playoffs.

The Giants got two new shiny tackles to pair on their dominant line, Rocky Bernard and Chris Canty. They were going back to the Super Bowl! Results? A 8-8 season, no playoffs.

The Rams paid $7 million a year for center Jason Brown, the first key in a new OL that was going to pave the way for Stephen Jackons. Results? 1-15.

The Big Losers:

The Cowboys weren't picking up anyone! And they let their starting CB Anthony Henry go for peanuts, as well as letting TO walk. Results? A 11-5 season.

The Eagles had finally slipped from dominance, what with losing Brian Dawkins, Lito Shepperd and Correll Buckhalter. And they hadn't brought in anyone for McNabb to throw to, despite folks like T.J. being on the market! Results? A 11-5 season.

Meanwhile:

16 days into FA, the Saints signed a little hearlded contract with Darren Sharper, obviously far too late to make any sort of difference to their Super Bowl aspirations...

-

So did anyone use have a "big splash" in the FA market in 2009 that actually made them a better team? The Jets picked up Bart Scott from the Ravens, and had a good season. The Ravens picked up Domonique Foxworth (but also lost Bart Scott) and had a good season.

How slanted in this? Here is an example for 2 teams that improved last year and made the playoffs.

The Jets picked up these guys:

DE Marques Douglas: FA Ravens; terms unknown.

DT Howard Green: UFA Seahawks; $625,000/1 yr, guarantees unknown.

LB Larry Izzo: UFA Patriots; terms unknown.

SS Jim Leonhard: UFA Ravens; $5.9M/3 yrs, guarantees unknown.

LB Bart Scott: UFA Ravens; $48M/6 yrs, $22M guaranteed.

CB Lito Sheppard (trade Eagles).

CB Donald Strickland: UFA 49ers; 3 yrs, terms unknown

The Saints picked up more than Sharper.

TE Dan Campbell: FA Lions; $745,000/1 yr.

TE Darnell Dinkins: UFA Browns; 1 yr, terms unknown.

FB Heath Evans: UFA Patriots; 2 yrs, terms unknown.

CB Jabari Greer: UFA Bills; $22M/4 yrs, $10M guaranteed.

C Nick Leckey: UFA Rams; 1 yr, terms unknown.

S Pierson Prioleau: UFA Jaguars; terms unknown.

S Darren Sharper: UFA Vikings; $1.7M/1 yr, $200,000 SB.

DE Paul Spicer: FA Jaguars; 1 yr, terms unknown.

LB Anthony Waters: FA Chargers; terms unknown.

And the list go on and on for most teams. Add to the fact that this discussion doesn't include the draft and coaches acquired like Williams for the Saints for example and Ryan for the Jets and it is clear that the premise by the OP that free agent isn't important is relatively weak at this point. The best that can be said is that free agency is not the only way to build a team and there are teams that build primarily through the draft and are very successful like Pittsburgh. Still others like New England build through the draft and signing key free agent veterans to provide short term help and leadership..Much of it depends on your needs, who is available by trade or free agency and what draft picks you have.

At this point it is totally irrelevant to our situation given we have limited draft picks and just created a lot of holes by releasing a bunch of veterans. Whether we sign big names or not, we need to be active in free agency because we only have 5 draft picks and alot more holes to fill than that.

[Retemnav]

"It's super important to be really active in Free Agency and make a big splash early, right?"

Way to fail reading comprehension. I specifically pointed out that the Saints improved themselves late in FA.

But it wasn't with flashy, big name FA's in the first couple of days.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

"It's super important to be really active in Free Agency and make a big splash early, right?"

Way to fail reading comprehension. I specifically pointed out that the Saints improved themselves late in FA.

But it wasn't with flashy, big name FA's in the first couple of days.

Point taken. The main objective to free agency is to make your team better rather than make headlines.

[pstall]

Football. Say hello to Freakonomics

[RedMage138]

Football. Say hello to Freakonomics

love that book

[Mr. Scot]

It's super important to be really active in Free Agency and make a big splash early, right?

The Big Winners:

Last year, the consensus TOP FA landing was the Redskins signing of Albert Haynesworth, who was going to make an already good D dominate. Results? A 4-12 season, no playoffs.

Denver, meanwhile, signed 8 players early, including big deals for Andre' Goodman and Brian Dawkins. Results? A 8-8 season, no playoffs.

The Chiefs picked up Matt Cassel, and while they weren't going anywhere because of the total rebuilding going on there, it's not like Matt led them to even a mediocre season (4-12).

The Seahawks pounced on T.J. Houshmanzahdah early, who was going to lead them back to dominance in the West. Results? A 5-11 season, no playoffs.

The Giants got two new shiny tackles to pair on their dominant line, Rocky Bernard and Chris Canty. They were going back to the Super Bowl! Results? A 8-8 season, no playoffs.

The Rams paid $7 million a year for center Jason Brown, the first key in a new OL that was going to pave the way for Stephen Jackons. Results? 1-15.

The Big Losers:

The Cowboys weren't picking up anyone! And they let their starting CB Anthony Henry go for peanuts, as well as letting TO walk. Results? A 11-5 season.

The Eagles had finally slipped from dominance, what with losing Brian Dawkins, Lito Shepperd and Correll Buckhalter. And they hadn't brought in anyone for McNabb to throw to, despite folks like T.J. being on the market! Results? A 11-5 season.

Meanwhile:

16 days into FA, the Saints signed a little hearlded contract with Darren Sharper, obviously far too late to make any sort of difference to their Super Bowl aspirations...

-

So did anyone use have a "big splash" in the FA market in 2009 that actually made them a better team? The Jets picked up Bart Scott from the Ravens, and had a good season. The Ravens picked up Domonique Foxworth (but also lost Bart Scott) and had a good season.

Thanks, Van Meter.

The Panthers have generally preferred to be free agent cautious. The one time they went splashy early, it didn't produce anything special. Makes it seem less likely they'd go that way again.

[Kevin Greene]

Yep, the Saints showed last year free agency can work. From Drew Brees on down.

[Mr. Scot]

All in how you do it.

The system is good, but not everyone is good at it.

[jramsey4]

What the Bucs did is far more relevant. They cut 5 aging stars (LB Derrick Brooks, WR Joey Galloway, LB Cato June, WR Ike Hilliard and RB Warrick Dunn). If you looked at that list you would probably say to yourself "They were washed up players", but they sure could have used some of that leadership this year.

I hope I'm wrong but don't use all the positive examples and completely ignore one that is actual much more similar to our off-season so far.

[Retemnav]

I think as long as you have a guy like Jon Beason, you don't have to worry too much about leadership. And the Bucs last year were rebuilding an entire team, not just one unit. We have OL, LB, S, CB, Q, TE, RB and K set. DL and ST, and to a lesser degree WR (for a 2nd option), are our only real "needs." I don't think you can fairly compare that to the Bucs team last year, who had basically none of these positions set going into the season.

Besides, didn't TB still have Old Man Barber last year for leadership?

The only real question I see this year is if we can find a DL that underperforms our old DL less than Delhomme underperformed Moore last year. If that happens, assuming Moore doesn't take a big step back this year or anything, then we should have a good shot to be back in the playoffs. Probably still 2nd in the South, though, unless Brees parties too much at Mardi Gras.

[panthers55]

"It's super important to be really active in Free Agency and make a big splash early, right?"

Way to fail reading comprehension. I specifically pointed out that the Saints improved themselves late in FA.

But it wasn't with flashy, big name FA's in the first couple of days.

Each year stands on it's own. You don't think that Chicago will be a better team this year after who they picked up? And if they do improve, does that negate your whole premise? Or is it just team specific and year specific and not indicative of a trend or relevant to making a sweeping generalization. If you want to make it meaningful do it for the last 3 years then it might be of interest. Otherwise it is 2 or 3 examples which all happened in one year.

For example in 2008 Atlanta jumped early and signed Michael Turner who had a huge impact on their franchise and contributed significant to a big turnaround. Minnesota signed Berrian who has been their best receiver and significantly helped them in 2008 and 2009.

Other teams like San Francisco signed a half dozen players and made little improvement at all. Our big signings early in 2008 were Keydrick Vincent and Richard Colclough. Vincent helped for sure but wasn't the primary reason for our success.

So it is a mixed bag and due to so many factors including the draft, injuries, schedule, etc that I don't think you can say that early signings in free agency are important or not. It depends on the circumstances, who is available, how your free agents pickups mix with your other upgrades, injuries, present core of players, and other factors.

You point for 2009 may be valid but doesn't necessarily hold up for other teams in other years.