The Philosophy of Building a Team in the NFL

You hear the old cliches all the time. 

Offense wins games, defense wins championships.

You build a team in the trenches if you want to be successful.

Building your team through the draft is the only way.

Always draft the best available player, unless that player is a franchise quarterback and your team already has one.

These sayings are thrown around by commentators every week in the NFL—most of which are true, but if all of them are said at the same time, could it be possible?

To build your team through the draft, you would have to draft the best available player, but what if that player doesn't play a position in the trenches? 

And what if that player is an offensive player?  How could you draft defense?

And what about the trenches? 

Does this mean that no NFL team should ever sign a free agent?

The answer: yes, and no—depending on your team philosophy.

Every team in the NFL is different.  No one would ever compare Dan Snyder with Dan Rooney.  So, why is it that some teams can be so successful, and others flame out every year?

If you look at the teams in the early '90s, when free agency first started, San Francisco and Dallas were the kings of the heap.

Both teams knew how to manage the cap, back load contracts, give huge signing bonuses, and get the best possible players to win now.

The problem with that was, because of the massive signing bonuses, and the back loaded contracts, when the team could no longer afford the $20 million dollar salary, they would cut the player and have the cap hit of the remainder of the signing bonus.

There are many teams that were hurt by this.  Tennessee was one of the worst, in one season having to cut many players because of the so-called "dead money".  They hardly had enough cap space to sign rookies.

As time went on, teams like Pittsburgh, New England, and the New York Giants, the teams that managed the cap without the massive back-heavy contracts, are the ones that won in the long run.

Building through the draft has become the standard in the NFL.  Sure there are still teams that think they can buy championships (see Dallas Cowboys/Washington Redskins), but those teams fall before the playoffs start.

Most true fans actually believe in the philosophy that their team uses.  One of my best friends is a Redskins fan, and believes his team is only one player from being Super.

The point is, to have 32 teams all try to do the same thing would make the NFL boring.  The offseason would be nowhere near as exciting if I didn't know someone would throw $100 million dollars at a player not worth close to it.

To watch the race to sign the big-named free agent, even though my Steelers are not even in the race, is actually kind of fun.

Even when it comes to drafting, all teams are different.  I have been in "discussions" with writers from other teams comparing how their team drafts, and how mine does.

But again, this comes down from the owners and what their philosophy is.

When you have a team like Pittsburgh, who proudly states that they always draft the best available player, you have to wonder, do they really?

Do they draft the best available player in the draft, or the best available player at the position they need?

Would they draft the best player if he were a linebacker if their most obvious need was defensive end?

Philosophy dictates what teams do in the draft.  When a team drafts a player in the first three rounds, that player is expected to contribute within the first two years.

Players that are selected that high come with a bigger price tag, so the earlier they are drafted, the more they are expected to perform.

Players taken in round four and later are not expected to jump right in and be all-stars.  They are players that are full of potential, and hopefully, one day, will make a difference.  But it is not expected.

Sure, some times a team can find a real gem in the later rounds (see Brady, Tom).  But for every successful player taken after the fourth round, there are 20 that never survive the first year.

The battle about what teams draft best is really irrelevant.  Colts fans, your team drafts the people they think are going to best help them win.  Same with Steelers fans, and the rest of the NFL.

What it all comes down to is the game at the end of the year.  Teams spend the entire year trying to be the team to win the Super Bowl.  But the day after the Super Bowl, everyone is back at square one, doing what they think is the best way to win—using their philosophy.