Thread: 5 Best and Worst in FA, this will surprise...

Shutdown Corner
Mon Aug 01 10:16am EDT
Winners! The five teams which improved the most in free agency

By MJD

As much as free-agency hits and misses help shape a team, the Super Bowl could have been won or lost over the past seven days. We can't know for sure how things will shake out -- some of the guys listed below absolutely will turn into overpaid, under-producing albatrosses around the necks of the teams unfortunate enough to employ them, but for now, there's no reason not to be optimistic. These are the five teams that most put themselves in a position to improve with their free-agency moves.
(NOTE: See the top (or bottom, if you will) five losers in free agency here.)

1. Philadelphia Eagles. It's been a pretty thorough domination of free agency by the Eagles. Not only did they surprise everyone by landing the big prize in Nnamdi Asomugha(notes), their top-notch secondary is also now matched by their front four with the signings of Cullen Jenkins(notes) and Jason Babin(notes). They also did well with the Kevin Kolb(notes) trade, moving their backup quarterback for Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie(notes) and a second-round draft pick. Then they went out and signed Vince Young(notes), who, if he's ready to accept the full Andy Reid treatment, could still turn out to be a better quarterback than Kolb.

2. Arizona Cardinals. ... but the Cardinals hope that doesn't happen. Kolb's their big offseason prize, but under the radar, the Cardinals did pretty well with free agents, too. Stewart Bradley(notes) immediately upgrades the linebacking corps, and Daryn Colledge(notes) will help stabilize the offensive line. Todd Heap(notes), if he's healthy (a gigantic "if," I grant you -- I'd put it in 72-point font if they'd let me) will be a nice outlet and red zone target for Kolb when Larry Fitzgerald(notes) is being octuple-teamed.

3. Seattle Seahawks. History suggests that there's not much of a future in being a big-money wide receiver signing with the Seahawks, but Sidney Rice(notes) hopes to reverse that trend. He'll have to do it with the help of Charlie Whitehurst(notes) or Tarvaris Jackson(notes), but we'll save that for another day. This is a post for optimism. Robert Gallery(notes) is a nice addition at guard, too, and keeping Brandon Mebane(notes) in town was big. One gets the feeling that Seattle is moving in the right direction.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars. It didn't take a general managing prodigy to figure out that the Jaguars needed help on defense. They gave up 250 passing yards per game last year, and let opposing quarterbacks post a 98.5 QB rating against them. Only the Texans were worse. They also gave up 4.7 yards per carry on the ground, and 122 rushing yards per game. So while identifying the deficiency wasn't difficult, credit them for addressing it thoroughly: Paul Posluszny(notes) and Clint Session(notes) at linebacker, and Dawan Landry(notes) at safety. They missed out on Eric Weddle(notes), but can live with it because they'd have had to overpay to get him.

5. Houston Texans. How many times did you see the Texans last year and say, "If they just had a little bit of a secondary, they'd be dangerous." Well, they should have a little bit of a secondary now, with quality cornerback Johnathan Joseph(notes) in the mix, as well as Danieal Manning(notes) at safety.

Well Minny seems to be the worst off and without a doubt Philly the best but I really can't see the Packers being among the worst. When you don't have cap $$$ to spend and you really don't need to spend in FA all that badly I don't know if that constitutes being worse off than having cap space and not using it as well to meet your needs as you should. (gee I wonder who fits that description).

At least the SHUTDOWN CORNER hasn't rated us as one of the worst regardless of how we feel about it.

And where's Chi-town?

Originally Posted by soulman

Shutdown Corner
Mon Aug 01 10:12am EDT
Losers! The five teams to which free agency was not kind

By MJD

Free agency isn't good to everyone. Not every one has money to spend, and not every location around the league is considered a desirable one. If some teams are going to improve, it stands to reason that some teams are going to get worse. These are the five teams that have some recovering to do from the free-agency period.
(NOTE: See the Top 5 winners of free agency here.)

1. Minnesota Vikings. I don't know how the state of Minnesota will deal with the devastating loss of Tarvaris Jackson(notes). His absence leaves a gaping hole in the hearts of so many fans who cherished his -- nah, I'm kidding. With Christian Ponder(notes) drafted and Donovan McNabb(notes) acquired, it'll feel like a whole new Vikings franchise. But when they let Sidney Rice(notes) and Ray Edwards(notes) leave, a whole lot of talent walked out the door in Minnesota.

2. Green Bay Packers. There's no need to host a telethon for the Packers or anything. They've still got a ton of good young players under contract, and a lot of them are at a very reasonable rate. But when you have a lot of good players, you're bound to lose some now and again, and the Packers have. Cullen Jenkins(notes) will be destroying things for someone else's defensive line, Daryn Colledge(notes) will be anchoring someone else's offensive line, and Nick Barnett(notes) is gone, too.

3. Carolina Panthers. The Panthers have certainly splashed around some money, so I guess there's an argument to be made that they're winners here. But when you're 1-15, I don't know why you give big money to a 28-year-old running back when you have Jonathan Stewart(notes) on the roster. They were kind of painted into a corner with Charles Johnson(notes) -- he's 25 years old and had 11.5 sacks last year, so they sort of had to keep him -- but to me, $30 million is a whole lot of guaranteed money for a guy who's had one good season. I'm glad they were active and I'm glad they're trying hard to improve, but I wonder if that money couldn't have been put to better use.

4. Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens haven't lost anyone that they can't live without, but when everything is tallied up, they lost a lot and didn't gain much. Gone are Josh Wilson(notes), Dawan Landry(notes), Donte Stallworth(notes), Fabian Washington(notes), Willis McGahee(notes), Kelly Gregg(notes), Chris Chester(notes) and Todd Heap(notes). Adding Vonta Leach(notes) at fullback is nice, but you'd still have to put the Ravens on the losing side of the ledger.

5. New York Jets. If you could define losing as "having a goal and missing out on it," then you'd have to classify the Jets as losers. They wanted Nnamdi Asomugha(notes) bad, and came up short. In the end, they had to make up with Antonio Cromartie(notes), putting them right back where they started. They lost playmaker Brad Smith(notes) to Buffalo, and I know everyone in New York is excited about the recent addition of Plaxico Burress(notes), but I'm not sure the Jets come out ahead on a Braylon Edwards(notes) for Plaxico Burress swap, either.

6. Tennessee Titans ;-)

and if the busts from the other teams actually do pan out? where are we ranked then?

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

We aren't the worst losers in FA, but I bet if he ranked all teams, we would not be in the top 1/3.

This is why all of the crying makes me sick. Two of the "worst" teams were in their respective championship games and one of them won the friggen superbowl.

Every year its the same old bitchfest, we were top contenders last year, couldn't upgrade our oline (or failed at landing a top guy) but our dline is the same (- suckass tommy) plus potential from a few others.

Winning teams DO NOT make big splashes in FA every year, and rarely do those big splashes pan out.