The Panthers All-Drafted Team

[jtm]

As some point you have to bite the bullet and go young. Just about every successful franchise does this. It just so happened that we went young at the same time that there was no CBA and cut dead weight also. Last year was the perfect storm and will not happen again.

[mountainpantherfan]

Interesting, but my point was how often do they make BIG moves. When was the last time the Steelers made a big money free agency signing, or traded for someone other than dealing with late round picks?

The Pats recently made one big singing, Adalius Thomas, and have essentially steered clear since then. Other than that, they have stuck to older players and low risk trades.

Didn't catch that the first time. But it's still not every team. I know you said perennial Super Bowl teams but just looking at teams that have constantly made the playoffs over the last 18 years (the begining of free agency) teams like the Eagles and the Ravens have constantly been big players in free agency. And even teams we think of today as not being big players like the Packers won a Super Bowl in the 90's on the back of the FA Reggie White and QB aquired via trade Bret Farve.

Look at the last four Super Bowl winners. The Steelers and Packers haven't made big moves in free agency. But the Saints and Giants have been players every year.

I think that knowing when to let a player go is just as important as scouting players. The GM's and organizations that have historicly been able to do that and scout both drafted players and free agents have been the teams that have shown over the years that they can continuously get back in the playoffs year after year.