Free agency isn't the panacea it was once thought to be, but it can certainly be used to augment a team's talent base. Occasionally, however, free agency produces a player who makes a major difference for his squad and helps take his team to the proverbial "next level."

In the video above, Josh Zerkle, Michael Schottey and I give our takes on which free agents are set to have the biggest impact on the offensive side of the ball. 

Let us know where you agree or disagree in the comments below, and let us know if there's anyone we should have included. 

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Like a musclebound Tai Chi beginners group, dozens of NFL newbies and wannabes gathered last week at training facilities across the land, moving, twisting and stretching themselves in new and difficult ways.

Meanwhile, middle-aged men with visors, clipboards and whistles stood around, trying to figure out if any of the dancing bears could help them win football games.

For the first time, the 2013 draft class put on the colors of their new employer—home, away and "do not touch" jerseys—and helmets that may have lacked logos or sported masking tape branded with their last name.

The odds are that few of those gathered will make the roster, and even fewer will make an impact on their respective team's win-loss record in 2013.

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Michael Vick. Nick Foles. Matt Barkley. 

Only one of these guys was drafted by the current regime. Granted, Vick enters offseason workouts as the nominal starter, but there's a better-than-remote chance we could see Barkley operating the controls of Chip Kelly's high-octane offense come opening weekend. 

What will Barkley look like in an Eagles uni? Take a look at a sneak peek in the video above, with help from our friends at EA's Madden NFL 13. 

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While the 2013 NFL draft didn't have the star appeal of some recent draft classes, mostly due to a lack of top-flight quarterback prospects, it did host a plethora of talent on both sides of the football. 

On the defensive side of the ledger, plenty of players selected throughout the draft will bring immediate help and support to their respective squads.

But which three or four will be in the running for Defensive Rookie of the Year come December?

We tackle that question in the video above. Let us know in the comments below where you agree or disagree and if there are any players you think we've left off out of our group.

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For every Tom Brady, there are hundreds of Todd Husaks.

Husak was the first quarterback taken after the New England Patriots selected Brady in the 2000 NFL draft. He spent four years bouncing around with five different teams—in both the NFL and in Europe—before returning to Stanford, his alma mater, to coach and eventually work in broadcasting.

Today, he manages an office of a large commercial real estate services firm and does color commentary for Stanford football broadcasts.

Successful in life? Certainly. But Husak, and many late-round picks, will never taste any bit of the NFL success that Brady has managed.

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Did you hear the one about the NFL rookie who looked great in minicamp?

We often talk about the filter we should put on team info before the draft—the smokescreens, the misinformation, the outright lying.

However, what about the filter post-draft?

Do we really need to take every single factoid at face value? Every single team has players in its recent history that had "great" minicamps according to its coaches, maybe even a good preseason, yet never took a regular-season snap.

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Rookie camps are all about learning.

At rookie camp, dozens of young men step onto an NFL field for the first time. Some of them already hold guaranteed multi-year contracts and some have already cashed their signing-bonus check, but many will never get anything more from an NFL team than the bus ticket that got them here.

In just a few short days, rookies have to cram as much of what they're taught into their heads as possible and prove they know it well enough to show off every bit of their talent. They have a handful of reps to prove they "have it" physically and they "get it" mentally.

The best receive invitations to come back for OTAs—the rest go home, unlikely to ever return.

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If the NFL draft is time for optimism for fans of every team, camps are when teams have their rays of sunshine.

It's the same every year. Around the league, someone from almost every team will talk about how the Super Bowl is the goal of the season, how someone is looking way better than last year or how this team just feels different.

Everyone is 0-0 and has his sights on winning 16 of the next 16 games en route to a playoff berth, spot in history and probably a bust in Canton, just for good measure. This optimism is what fuels players through the slog of workouts in the hot sun (or in the reasonable climate of a practice bubble).

If one takes a step back from all the positive spin, it's clear that some teams have big questions  to answer before the season begins. It doesn't change the fact that some of these teams could still have great seasons, but they're not ready for the season to begin...yet.

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