2012 NFL Free Agents: Top Signings That Will Shape 2012 Season

There aren't a lot of excellent free agents left, and it's because the teams that knew what they needed signed them a long time ago. Those are the teams that have transformed from mediocre to dangerous without having played a game yet. 

You have to spend a lot of money and take a lot of risks to see a big payoff, and that's what the Broncos and the 49ers did this offseason. 

Here's a look at some of the best free-agent signings thus far and how they'll affect the way things shake down in 2012. 

Peyton Manning, Denver Broncos

There's no signing that will have a bigger impact than Manning's in 2012. For the first time in his career, he won't be wearing blue and white, and as a result, the rest of the AFC South can breathe.

It also means that there's a new favorite in town in the AFC West. This year won't be like last year, when you could finish at .500 and still make the playoffs. Manning's arrival means there will be a new standard of play in the division.

Philip Rivers isn't used to having a lot of stiff quarterback competition in the division, and his defense isn't used to facing Manning twice in one season.

Manning has as much to prove as anyone next season, and there's nothing more dangerous in the NFL than a slighted Manning. His new teammates are already feeling the pain, as Broncos wideout Andre Caldwell told NFL.com's Dan Hanzus: 

"

The quarterback had to get adjusted to us [last year], but instead, Peyton is leading us. He’s showing us all the drills we need to do. He’s ahead of everybody, and he’s just our leader. Being with a rookie last year, our leader was on the O-line. This year it’s the quarterback. He’s leading everything that he does. 

"

It doesn't happen every year that one of the best signal-callers in the game switches teams. More often than not, those guys stay put for life. Manning's arrival in Denver means that the Broncos automatically become one of the most-feared teams in the league. 

Randy Moss, Mario Manningham and Brandon Jacobs, San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers saw, up close and personal, what they were lacking a few months ago when they lost to the Giants in overtime in the NFC championship. As such, in the offseason, they made sure they went out and snagged those missing pieces.

San Francisco plucked Manningham and Jacobs away from their Super Bowl winning team, and in the process, added some much-needed experience to its offense. Jacobs' production has dwindled over the last three seasons, but much of that is due to the fact that he had to share playing time with Ahmad Bradshaw, and he didn't take well to it.

He'll still have to split duties with Frank Gore in 2012, but if he can adjust his attitude to fit his new team, he'll prove to be a great acquisition.

Wide receiver is where the 49ers needed more help offensively, and Moss and Manningham are both wild cards for different reasons. Manningham put himself in the national spotlight by making the catch of the game in Super Bowl XLVI, but he was the Giants' fourth-best receiver in 2011. He's never started more than 10 games in a season or accumulated 1,000 yards, but he still gives the 49ers some depth.

Moss, though he established himself as one of the most prolific wideouts in the NFL in his younger years, didn't play during the 2011 season and left the league on a terrible note in 2010 after bouncing around from team to team and always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

But if he is in shape and genuinely tries to refrain from being a distraction, he has as much natural ability as anyone else in the league and gives Alex Smith a nice new weapon to play with. Both Manningham and Moss bring some experience to a team with two young starters in Michael Crabtree and Kyle Williams.

Brandon Lloyd, New England Patriots

The Patriots got exposed in Super Bowl XLVI for not having an elite wide receiver. They got away with it for most of the year because of their tight-end tandem of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, but when Gronk got hurt before the Super Bowl and Hernandez couldn't get open against the Giants, they were stuck.

Wes Welker is the team's top wide receiver, and he's certainly among the best in the NFL, but his drop was arguably the one that lost New England the Super Bowl. Even if he had made that catch, the Pats would still need someone to complement him—and while Deion Branch was once a Super Bowl MVP and adds a lot in terms of experience and athleticism, he wasn't as effective as many were hoping in 2011.

That's where Lloyd comes in. He gives the Patriots that second element they desperately need at the position.

He has nine years of experience but is still a few years younger than Branch, and he's a Pro Bowler who, in 2012, will only be two years removed from the best season of his career. Plus, he'll be reunited with Josh McDaniels, his former coach in Denver and now the Patriots' offensive coordinator, who got that 11-touchdown, 1,448-yard season out of him in 2010.

At $4 million per year, Lloyd gives New England the kind of player it loves: low-risk, high-potential payoff.