5 Candidates to Replace Kevin Kolb as Next Year's NFL Free Agency Bust

I'm kind of dying of the plague right now, so if you don't agree, it's my flu's fault. If you agree? I'm totally feeling fine and not hallucinating at all.

Every season there are free agency signings that prove to be worth so much more that a team bargained for. Signings that, when we look back on them will make the GM, the coach, the whole staff, look like geniuses. Signings that push a team over the top and help them on the way to a playoff run, Conference Championship or even the Super Bowl.

Then there are the other signings. Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kevin Kolb is one of the other signings. Kolb's six-year, $65 million ($21.5 million guaranteed) always seemed like a bad idea to me, and after an underwhelming and injury-plagued season, it appears maybe the Cardinals might feel the same.

Matt Flynn

How good is Flynn, really? Theoretically, he seems very good. Is he? Granted, he had a fantastic game against Detroit and has had a few other good outings. Do we have enough to know what he can do? Flynn has excelled in primarily a West Coast offense and the question becomes whether he could succeed in another style of offense. After a fantastic game against the Lions in Week 17, it's likely that bidders will be willing to pay a ton of money to find out. The risk, as with Kolb, is that there is too little history to go on. A team could spend a lot of money on someone who could take a long time-perhaps never- to deliver on his potential.

Cedric Benson

Benson has had an up-and-down career with the Bengals and there is a good chance, in my opinion, that they will head in a different direction this off-season. On the one hand, he has had three 1,000-yard seasons. On the other hand, that's not nearly as impressive as it's been before. Those consistent seasons will attract a team looking for a running back who they think can routinely make tough yards and the occasional big play.

Benson is swiftly approaching 30, an age where many running backs break down and Benson has missed his fair share of games. On top of that, Benson's yards per carry average has never been particularly great. Can he improve that as he gets older? My guess is no. Teams are desperate for a productive back, so he will get some cash. My feeling is, though, that with so many running backs restricted free agents, that Benson will make more money than he's worth but perform at a level less than hoped for.

Peyton Hillis

Oh, Hillis, how you've hurt your potential earnings with your histrionics this year. That said, the upside on Hillis is tremendous and as I said with Benson, this league is desperate for two things: quarterbacks and running backs. So there is a good chance someone will pay him big bucks to join their team. The issues which could make him bust are two fold.

One, as with Matt Flynn, we don't have a ton of history to know for sure which Hillis is the real Hillis Is it the oft hurt and disappointing grouch of this past season? Or is it the 1,100 plus-yard beast from 2010? People will probably pay for Hillis' potential, although less than they would have had he not spent the season fighting with Browns' management. If it turns out that he's more the 2011 guy than the 2010, it could be a costly mistake.

Marques Colston

It's hard to say whether Colston will really leave New Orleans, and it all comes down to money. While I believe he has loyalty to Head Coach Sean Payton, he also knows he has a limited time left and want to get paid big one more time. His knees are the biggest question mark about Colston, not his ability.

He has plenty of ability, that's for sure, but that won't do him or the team who pays for him if the five surgeries (including a Lisfranc injury) catch up to him. Someone will probably gamble on him and risk another injury, even if the money is bigger than is wise. It's a roll of the dice to be sure-one that could pay off big or blow up (along with a knee) in a team's face.

DeSean Jackson

Like Peyton Hillis, the perception of Jackson's issues are more head-oriented than anything else. Unlike Hillis, we've got more of a beam on his ability. Jackson has speed and is deadly with the ball in his hands and despite being benched and clearly (to me at least, Philly fans feel free to correct me) quitting on some plays, he nearly broke 1,000 yards for the second year in a row.

Teams may look at the way he conducted himself in 2011 and question whether they can control him, but enough of them have been burned by him on big plays to enamor many other coaches. Someone *cough-Dan Snyder-cough* will overlook his attitude and just see the talent. Someone will look at his ability and his upside and figure if they pay him the money Philadelphia might not, he will be happy and productive.

Several things concern me about Jackson. First is, of course, his attitude. Sure he'd be happy to get paid. I don't trust him to not be petulant though, if the team he signs with is losing. Jackson does not strike me as enough of a team player and leader to carry that forward in the face of adversity.

Secondly, his touchdown production is not very good. The most he ever scored was nine through the air and if you're going to get top end money, you need to produce more. His average is a lot worse and with Jackson it's either a very long touchdown or nothing. He's almost never a red zone target and if he's not involved, he can lose interest. Jackson can be wildly inconsistent and in my mind it can often be because he's lost interest.

The safest move with Jackson is for the Eagles to tag him with the franchise tag. That could cause more troubles than it'd solve though, as his attitude this year points to. Someone might make a generous offer to Jackson and find out that while he can be a dynamic playmaker, he doesn't make those plays often enough.