You don’t want your team to “win” NFL free agency
Every year, National Football League fans can’t contain their excitement. After watching the previous campaign, 31 fan bases are hoping to find that extra piece or two, either to make a playoff push, becoming respectable or perhaps win the Super Bowl. The reigning champ is desperate to hold on, searching for reinforcements.
This leads to panic. When the gates are opened on March 7, crazed fans will rush to their televisions, tablets, computes and cell phones. They will frantically refresh the page hoping for a rumor, a visit, a signing. If there is some news, that means that their team cares the most. If not, the general manager is a lazy putz who should be fired.
Incredibly, people still believe that winning a Super Bowl can be done, or the goal at least advanced, by spending big money in free agency. The reality is that notion is the idea of a fool. Free agency is the Siren off the coast, calling you into her port, only to end up ruined on the rocks. Free agency is a brutal trap, and yet teams (and often, the same teams) fall into it year after year.
Last offseason, it was once again the Miami Dolphins. Miami was coming off a second consecutive 8-8 season and despite desperately needing to be prudent with the salary cap, the front office went great guns. Instead of shrewdly drafting or picking up a few underrated free agency, Miami landed defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the prize of the class. Suh came to the Dolphins at six years and $118 million, the largest contract ever given to a defensive player.
This offseason, Miami will likely be restructuring Suh’s deal to save money, since the team is already over the cap. The Dolphins, despite signing Suh, finished 6-10 and fired their head coach after four weeks.
Meanwhile, the Carolina Panthers did virtually nothing in free agency last year. Carolina has been building around a core that includes Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly, Jonathan Stewart, Josh Norman, Kawaan Short, Star Lotulelei and Thomas Davis, all of whom were drafted by the Panthers. General manager Dave Gettleman was able to keep this crew together and should be going into the long-term future, mostly because he doesn’t make huge free-agency splashes.
Look at the playoff teams this year, and you will notice a common thread. None of them are huge spenders in free agency. The Green Bay Packers are notorious for drafting and developing, while the Washington Redskins finally reached the postseason again after changing up the front office and declining to dole out huge free-agent deals.
The Seattle Seahawks were almost entirely built through the draft, with the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers being able to say the same. The Minnesota Vikings are another quality example, with the defense largely being drafted, along with Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson. The Denver Broncos are perhaps the lone exception, with Emmanuel Sanders, DeMarcus Ware, T.J. Ward, Peyton Manning, Evan Mathis, Owen Daniels, Aqib Talib and others coming in from the outside.
In the past, some of the biggest contracts have gone to Albert Haynesworth (Washington), Dannell Ellerbe (Miami), Jerry Porter (Oakland), Nnamdi Asomugha (Philadelphia), Mario Williams (Buffalo), Jairus Byrd (New Orleans), Vincent Jackson (Tampa Bay), Golden Tate (Detroit), Julius Thomas (Jacksonville) and Suh (Miami). None of those players ever want a playoff game, let alone a championship, with their new team.
So when March 7 rolls around and you are frantically refreshing your social media accounts, keep this in mind. The less you see of your team, the better off you are.