Mike Freeman's 10-Point Stance: Hitting the Free-Agency Jackpot

1. Free Agency is the Greatest Show in Sports

This week, as ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported, the NFL has asked several teams to keep their phone records handy in case the league needs them. 

This after a three-day free-agent "negotiating" period that was filled with reported agreements, most prominently between the Miami Dolphins and Ndamukong Suh. The NFL wanted the records, presumably, to look into who did what and when they did it. More billable hours for Ted Wells.

The NFL allowed teams to discuss contract terms during the three-day window, but no deals were supposed to be made. That was cute, NFL. But of course deals were going to be made. Of course teams were going to cheat their asses off. This is what teams do.

What that window basically did was give the league a multi-day head start on free-agency excitement. It revved everyone's engines. It was free agency on HGH.

The result was one of the most insane stretches in recent free-agency history. It wasn't just the number of reported signings and deals—it was the huge names: Suh, Jimmy Graham, Haloti Ngata. Frank Gore to Indy. Shane Vereen to the Giants. Brian Hoyer to the Texans. Sam Bradford to Philadelphia.

It was all just so insane. It was absolutely stunning.

Some of my favorite football sites seemed to shut down due to the traffic. And the funny thing is, we're just getting started. We still don't know what players like DeMarco Murray are going to do.

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

The story isn't that the NFL is king. Everybody knows that. It's that in the span of a day, or a few days, the entire NFL landscape potentially shifts.

Chip Kelly may be transforming Philadelphia into a magnificent power if he's made the right moves. The Jets getting Darrelle Revis means they could be on their way to a fast makeover. The Patriots losing Revis could make them vulnerable. The Seahawks remain the dominant power in the NFC. The fact that the Packers kept key receiving talent makes them players yet again.

Free agency is one of the greatest football phenomenons because every fan (and team) believes it can remake everything. Terrible teams can become good again overnight. That's mostly not true, but it's what many believe.

And why free agency is so powerful.

2. Lynch relationship with front office remains strained

One quick thing on Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks. Make no mistake about this: The relationship between Lynch and the front office was strained, and according to league sources, it remains that way even after he signed a new deal. The Seahawks will deny this, of course, because they deny everything. Just like they denied any strain in the locker room before admitting there were issues.

Lynch will play football. He will get paid. In the end that's all that matters. That he might want to punch some dudes in the face who work in the front office is irrelevant.

3. Tebow the fullback?

Scott Roth/Associated Press

Tim Tebow is expected to attend a veteran combine later this month. If he ended up on a roster as a quarterback, it would stun almost everyone in the NFL. No one believes he has the ability to play quarterback on the professional level, no matter which quarterback guru has worked with him.

One general manager tells me he might "consider Tebow at fullback, maybe, but I think that's all he can do right now." Another said possibly as a backup tight end.

One thing I've learned with Tebow is to not underestimate him. But if he gets on a roster as a pass thrower, it would truly be one of the great NFL miracles.

4. Stephen A. Smith is wrong on Chip Kelly

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

No, Kelly's moves aren't about bigotry. Not even close. They are about eradicating strong voices in the locker room. Getting every player behind his own vision. New coaches do this all the time. It's just that Kelly is doing it to an extreme that I've never seen before. No team in recent NFL history has cut three players of the caliber of DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin within basically a two-year span. That is a nice chunk of talent gone extremely quickly.

But no, it's not about race. It's about control. It's very Belichickian. Get rid of the loud mouths and bring in people who will back you as head coach.

I love Stephen. He's a class act, a talented person and a good human being. Just on this, he's wrong.

5. Bears trying to trade Cutler

Jim Mone/Associated Press

They may deny it, but several team officials said the Bears are indeed trying to trade Cutler. No one is biting. Why would they? He's Jeff George. Jay George.

I've been saying this for years, and teams (and some in the media) are finally seeing it: He can't be trusted and the only reason the Bears haven't cut him is it's cap prohibitive to do so.

So the Bears are stuck with him for this season and likely next year.

6. AEG LOL

AEG abandoning its plans to build a downtown Los Angeles stadium, via the Los Angeles Times, has narrowed the NFL's options. There are still plenty left. There will still be football in L.A.

7. So...the 49ers' problems were all Harbaugh's fault, huh?

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

That is the impression 49ers brass has been giving to some in the media (mostly privately and off the record). Now Jim Harbaugh is gone, and the 49ers are a dumpster fire. There are expected and unexpected retirements. More accusations of domestic violence. One of the most important players in recent team history, Frank Gore, is leaving. Who knows what Colin Kaepernick will be like? Or the new head coach?

To the pro-Harbaugh crowd, watching the 49ers now—to steal a line from House of Lies—is like watching porn and Shark Week combined.

The decision to kick Harbaugh to the curb may prove to be the right one by 49ers management. It doesn't look that way so far.

8. Many teams interested in Greg Hardy

One general manager tells me that at least six teams are interested in Greg Hardy, which is amazing to me. Any team that signs Hardy learned nothing from the past year—the worst in NFL history.

This is a post-Ray Rice world. This is a man convicted by a judge of the horrific beating of a woman. And yes, I know he appealed. And yes, he "won" that appeal, but he did so because the victim didn't show. He's a convicted woman beater in an NFL trying to outrun its recent history with people like that.

But it's likely someone will sign Hardy because there are teams that don't learn lessons. Lessons like: You don't have to sign everyone. You can let some guys go.

9. Is Matt Stafford lazy?

Tony Tribble/Associated Press

If there's any truth to this, it's pretty damning. Arrogant front offices are commonplace. A lazy quarterback isn't. Actually, I've rarely encountered lazy athletes, of any kind, on any level, but especially not in the NFL. So this is fairly different. It's something Stafford will have to address.

10. Future union president: Read this

The Washington team, and the NFL overall, has handled the Washington team nickname issue fairly disgracefully. The union hasn't been much better.

That's why the letter below is so important. It's from a group of Native American leaders and was sent this week to every candidate for union president. It appeals for more accountability on this issue. And there needs to be more from the union. A lot more.

I wanted to share the letter in its entirety because of its significance:

"

Dear NFLPA Executive Director Candidate,

From Jesse Owens to Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali, athletes hold a special leadership position in history’s crusades for social justice. That has never been truer than it is today: as sports have become such an integral part of American culture, athletes have unique power to shape that culture for the better and to be a voice for the cause of equality.

The National Football League Players Association has been one of the organizations that has consistently marshaled that power for this righteous cause, standing in solidarity with others, just as civil rights groups have stood with the union. Because you are a candidate to become the next executive director of this hallowed organization, we are writing to you with a critical request: we are asking that you pledge that, if elected, you will put a resolution forward to NFLPA members allowing them to vote to have the organization formally join our Change the Mascot Campaign.

Our campaign’s goal is simple: we want the NFL to use its power to finally stop the Washington franchise from promoting a dictionary-defined racial slur as its name. This is a word screamed at Native Americans as they were dragged at gunpoint off their lands -- and it was a name originally given to the team by one of America’s most infamous segregationists, George Preston Marshall. As public health organizations have attested, this name has significant negative effects on Native Americans: every Sunday, the promotion of this name tells millions of Americans it is acceptable to denigrate native peoples on the basis of their alleged skin color.

Just as the NFL would never dare allow any other racial slur to brand one of its teams, it should not allow this name to continue to be promoted for the team that represents the nation’s capital. That is a common sense view understood by current professional football players including Richard Sherman and Champ Bailey; by former stars such as Terry Bradshaw, Calvin Hill and Mark Schlereth; and by the Fritz Pollard Alliance, the organization that works with the league to promote civil rights. They have all spoken out against the continued use of the team’s current name, as have major Native American organizations, public health organizations, religious leaders, sports media icons, governors, Members of Congress from both parties and the President of the United States.

For current NFL players, this name is an affront on two levels.

Morally, it is unacceptable for the league to continue forcing athletes to wear uniforms that publicly promote the iconography of a racial slur.

Economically, the continued use of the name potentially reduces revenues for players. According to an Emory University study of college teams, “The shift away from a Native American mascot yields positive financial returns.” With the NFLPA generating some of its revenues through merchandise sales, continuing to use the Washington team’s name forsakes the same positive financial returns that players could reap if the name were changed.

Last year, the current NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith issued a statement to The Washington Post correctly noting that the Washington team’s name conveys “racial insensitivity” and declared that “I do not believe anyone should inflict pain, embarrass or insult, especially given the racial insensitivity” of the team’s name.

We applaud Mr. Smith for making such a bold statement, and we are asking that all current candidates for NFLPA executive director make similar public statements. But we are also asking that the candidates take it a step further by pledging to have the full membership of the NFLPA vote on a formal resolution to join the Change the Mascot campaign and to demand that the league change the team’s name.

As noted at the beginning of this letter, athletes are in a unique position to take up the cause of social justice - especially on an issue like this that is so intertwined with professional sports. In the spirit of solidarity that the NFLPA so often promotes, we hope you will stand with us in this critical campaign.

Sincerely,

Ray Halbritter 

Oneida Indian Nation Representative

Jacqueline Pata

Executive Director, National Congress of American Indians

Brian Patterson

President, United South and Eastern Tribes

Bear Clan Council Member, Oneida Indian Nation

"

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.