NFL Free Agent Signings 2011: 5 Pickups You'll Never See Coming

The NFL free-agent signing period is in full swing. Your favorite clubs are sorting out their rosters, and these next individuals will be surprise finds for a few of you. 

The current period in the NFL is fluid and manic. The usual tempered patience that takes place is squeezed out as teams have only a couple weeks to determine their rosters. 

What we are left with is teams taking shots in the dark and gambling on talent. The Patriots have fired two salvos with free agents you would have been shocked to see wear their jerseys, Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth. 

Well, the hits will keep on coming. There has never been a better time to be an NFL fan. The rumors are coming fast and furious. 

It seems that once you hear a big name mentioned, he is snatched up the very next minute by a team too desperate to wait it out. 

Here we will break down five players and where they could head despite general consensus. The talk and jiber-jaber has them going one way, but an unlikely team could snatch them up from below. 

This is the alternative to what you have been hearing. The buzz does not tell the whole story. Here are five players and the teams that could sign them in the next few days. 

This is a rare and very special free-agent signing period. Really, anything can happen. The lockout didn't do us fans much good. We were forced to bide our time while the usual banter of football was forced into silence.

However, it did provide a small period of time where the offseason is, for once, exciting. So sit back and get ready to think outside the box.

Here are five free agent signings that you never saw coming.  

Braylon Edwards

General Wisdom: Minnesota Vikings

Don't Be Surprised by: St. Louis Rams

The Vikings lost out on their most prized receiver in Sidney Rice. Now they will clamor to find a receiver to make their offense shine. 

However, the St. Louis Rams are quiet players in the market. They need a star receiver to add to a budding offense led by second-year wunderkind, Sam Bradford. 

Edwards may be a headache, but he is a gamble worth taking for a franchise that struggled to find a No. 1 receiver last season. 

Edwards could reinvent his career one last time with a young team that is on the verge of taking the next step in the Rams. 

James Jones

General Wisdom: Green Bay Packers

Don't Be Surprised by: Minnesota Vikings

There is one thing you need to do if you are a the Packers brass, keep Aaron Rodgers happy. There is no reason to fiddle with a formula that just netted you a Super Bowl. 

It is clear that Rodgers is enamored with James Jones. He still considers him a No. 1 option in the offense, but the Packers beg to differ. 

It is more likely that Jones meanders in free agency for far too long. At that point, you will have the Vikings ready to snatch up a receiver before the good ones are spoken for. 

NBC reports, "The Vikings are making a 'serious run' at free agent James Jones, according to beat writer Judd Zulgad."

You can bet that Rodgers will be none too pleased to see his prized workhorse go to a bitter rival in the Vikings. 

Cullen Jenkins

General Wisdom: Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys

Don't Be Surprised by: Green Bay Packers or Chicago Bears

The hype at the moment is that the unheralded, but very effective, defensive end, Cullen Jenkins will go to either the Cowboys or Redskins.

There may be a couple of things at work that will prove the Packers will win the day in the end. First off, the biggest buyer on Jenkins may have been priced out all together.

They chose to take Stephen Bowen, negating that they would go after Jenkins when free-agency signing officially opens Friday.  

The Cowboys will throw the kitchen sink at Nnamdi Asomugha and may in fact nab the biggest prize left in the market. 

If that happens, the only team with the pocket book and the will to bring him in is the Packers. Jenkins was a pivotal piece to Green Bay's defense. He was second in sacks on the team to Clay Matthews with seven. 

If they again shrug off a reunion, the Bears will surely be there to pick up the pieces. 

Nnamdi Asomugha

General Wisdom: New York Jets

Don't Be Surprised by: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The wildly popular assumption is that the biggest prize in the NFL market will go to the Jets. New York is a presumptive contender, and Asomugha wants a ring. 

However, there are other coups at work here. We of course have the Dallas Cowboys making a full-court press for his services, but that is not all. 

NBC Sports reports the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been quietly pitching their team and bags of money to the talented shutdown corner. 

The Bucs showed that they were clearly a team on the rise last season. They are also a rare franchise that has enormous cap space to lure Asomugha with equal money to anything on the market. This is not just a one-pony race, despite what it seems. 

Plaxico Burress

General Wisdom: Philadelphia Eagles

Don't Be Surprised by: New York Giants

When the lockout was lifted, there was one team out in front of all others as favorites to land Plaxico Burress. The Eagles had their star quarterback, Michael Vick, state how enamored with Burress he was. 

The close friends made sense in a high-octane offense like the Eagles. Then came talk that the Giants were considering bringing back the troubled wide receiver. 

Many laughed off the reunion as ridiculous. Burress and head coach, Tom Coughlin, butted heads at every turn. The talks must be a measure of show and posturing, right?

Well, they aren't. There is increasing buzz that Burress could land with the one team that we thought would never sign him. 

Giants general manager, Jerry Reese, seems confident they will re-sign Burress if the ensuing talks between player and coach are, at the very least, amicable. Coughlin is working with a tighter rope than in past years, and Burress needs all the karma points that can be spared. This could happen.