Atlanta Falcons' Pursuit of Dominance in an Age of Parity

The NFL is more popular now than ever before. However, not everything is better today than it was a generation ago.

With free agency and cap limitations, the game has changed in many ways.

The team owners put together a great method for elevating the competitiveness of all teams, which has kept certain franchises from total domination of the league for long periods of time.

It has also made players more of a commodity and therefore less loyal to any one team. The players get to test the market for their services and the best talent gets the most money.

Today, there is more emphasis on the gamesmanship of the front office than the coalescing of a team over a long period of time.

This front office poker game has a myriad of moving parts like free agency, the draft and cap manipulation which includes contract negotiations and re-negotiations.

The Atlanta Falcons have been able to recreate their team into a winning franchise. Now comes the most difficult part, which is winning playoff games and getting a championship. It is interesting to note how plain old fashioned luck now plays a bigger role in winning it all.

The best thing I can say about the current NFL, is that the system makes football more interesting all through the year.

The worst thing I can say, is that the game is diminished because the system turns players into interchangeable parts that come and go.

It will be interesting to see how the front office negotiates with the many free agents on the team. I am sure that there will be some moves that will surprise us.

In general, free agency doesn't work out and players are over paid and under perform. This should lead to teams trying to keep the players they have or depending more on the draft just like the good old days.

On second thought, that will never happen, because hope springs eternal for every general manager that their next, big free-agent splash will bring a Championship.