Free Agency Reaches the Next Phase
By Joe Tufaro
Every year in the NFL there is a period when players who have been declared free agents are free to sign with other teams. Among these players are three distinct groups.
1. The Top name free agents: These players like Mario Williams and Peyton Manning this year are courted by a multitude of teams, and command big bucks. They also seem to sign pretty quickly after the start of free agency.
2. The Middle of the road guy: These are guys that flirt with a few teams and look for someone to overpay them because of how they fill a void on that team. Think of guys like Brandon Carr who signed a 50 million dollar deal to play CB for the Dallas Cowboys, or Cortland Finnegan who got the same thing to move from the Titans to the Rams.
3. The guys who overestimated their worth: Generally about this time players start to re-sign with their old team when they realize the demand just isn’t there. Tedd Ginn, Anthony Collins, and even players like Mario Manningham who don’t quite get what the thought they were worth. I think Brandon Jacobs will fit into this category as time passes. You will start to see more players re-sign when they realize their own team can replace them and isn’t chasing, and the interest wanes as the draft approaches.