NFL Free Agency Is a Fraud

The National Football League offseason is soon approaching, with the Super Bowl less than a month away. With it comes the renewed hope of fans via their favorite team signing players in free agency, but the reality of it is that it is a fraud.

Free agency in most other leagues can help teams tremendously if they do their scouting on a player, and even get a star player. In the NFL, that is far from the truth.

The last player to be available in free agency, and be worth every penny of his contract, is New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Brees with the Saints has been one of the best quarterbacks in the league.

Most players on the other hand are not even close to being worth what their contracts are. The reason being that some owners are desperate to win a Super Bowl.

The two biggest examples of this is Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis and Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson. Both men are up there in years, and in recent years have thrown ridiculous amount of money at players that do not deserve it.

Why do teams do it year after year, even though they most likely know that free agency is not the way to go. The reason is simply the salary cap.

The salary cap limits teams on how much money they can spend on player contracts.  What it also does, which is the problem, is that it forces teams to spend a minimum amount if money.

So, what some teams do is that they just go out, and try to improve their team, and at the same time get over the floor. 

There is the rare athlete that comes out in free agency that is worth it like Brees. This year may be the year when defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth and possibly wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh hit the free-agent market.

However, do not count your chickens before they hatch. Good solid organizations get players that are key for success locked up well before they hit free agency. 

That leaves very few good players on the market, with a huge demand from teams to improve their team. 

It may take away more time for NFL front office people to realize that, but they will get there.