NFL Free Agency “Winners” Are Rarely Winners When It Matters

As the names and contract numbers fly across our screens, it's understandable that fans in cities where there is precious little action during the first days of free agency (Pittsburgh, Green Bay) may get more than a little anxious watching teams like the Redskins and Buccaneers adding several new players and making big headlines.

I have a piece of advice for fans in these cities, and it can be summed up in one word:

Relax.

The best teams in the NFL, the ones that are set up for consistent success, all use the draft as their primary mode of acquiring talent.

The Steelers, the Packers, the Patriots (though definitely not afraid of free agency) the Colts, when Polian and Manning were playoff bound every year, the Eagles, prior to their insane shopping spree last year—these teams all share a common theme of drafting well, rewarding their own core players before they get to free agency and planning in advance to replace players they feel they can’t overpay by finding their replacements in the draft—not in free agency.

This is how you consistently find good, cheap, young talent. The key to roster management these days to is to have lots of quality players on the bottom of your roster that you aren’t paying tons of money for. Every draft pick, be it a third-round pick that is used on a wide receiver or a seventh-round pick that is used on a linebacker, should become an important piece of a teams roster puzzle.

Trading away draft picks for “name” players and missing on your scouting evaluations of college talent are the two quickest ways to decimate your roster for years to come. The teams handing out ridiculous contracts during the opening days of free agency are almost always the ones who have screwed up in the draft and who are now desperate to paper over the cracks.

Now, free agency can be a valuable tool that can be used to fix a mistake here or there. If your team has trouble at a particular position, signing a free agent or two for a reasonable price is a good way to buy some time while you wait for the draft to provide a young player or two to take their place.

But wholesale shopping sprees in free agency are never the answer. I can’t think of one team that spent big bucks the first two or three days of free agency that ended up playing in a Super Bowl the following February.

The opening of free agency is when we get to watch teams pay airport restaurant prices for hot dog stand talent. Enjoy the show, but remember—the teams making noise now most likely won’t be come playoff time.