Lord Sun
05-30-2004, 11:25 AM
Len Pasquarelli, ESPN.com
One of the theories at the outset of this year's free-agent signing period was that most teams would adhere to the New England Patriots paradigm, a system that has accentuated acquiring role players by signing them to modest contracts and then creating a way for those veterans to contribute.
Less than a week into the signing period, fueled by a cornerback market in which teams frivolously overpaid for several coverage players of dubious pedigree, the blueprint was obsolete. In a league where imitation is typically the sincerest form of flattery, and where the formula used by the defending Super Bowl champion typically becomes every other franchise's road map to success, the usual copycat mind-set was misplaced. Three months into free agency, the Patriots Path has become The Road to Perdition, it seems.
Uh, for the most part, that is.
There are a few teams that have spent frugally, other franchises that have invested zero on veteran free agents, some that have at least attempted to exercise some semblance of fiscal responsibility. But no two clubs have adhered more intimately to the New England system than the Tampa Bay Bucs and the New York Giants, each of which has brought in veterans by the truckload, but has done so without having to back a Brink's armored car to the nearest bank vault.
Maybe it wasn't a conscious exercise on the part of the two teams, but there had to be a modicum of planning involved, and it had to include a few pages from the manual used by coach Bill Belichick and personnel chief Scott Pioli in New England. For the Giants, it meant turning back the pages a bit to 2000, when the club signed graybeards like Glenn Parker and Lomas Brown and the two contributed mightily to an NFC title.
At last count the Bucs had either signed or claimed on waivers 22 veteran players. The investment includes just $13.82 million in signing bonuses, $26.95 million in total '04 compensation for the players, and only $14.46 million in cap room. The total does not include the $2 million in base salary the Bucs will pay wide receiver Joey Galloway, who was acquired in the trade that sent Keyshawn Johnson to the Dallas Cowboys.
The Giants, who in recent weeks seemed to sign a player every day, have imported 18 new veterans at a 2004 cost of approximately $24 million. That includes about $14.6 million in bonuses, but an investment of roughly $12.8 million in cap space. That's an average of only about $700,000 per newcomer, a small price to pay, especially to bolster a roster that a year ago suffered from lack of depth. Of course, the Giants, who next week figure to add quarterback Kurt Warner after his release by St. Louis, aren't quite done yet.
No prognosticator is likely to suggest either team is a favorite to appear in Super Bowl XXXIX. There is, though, a motive to the madness of adding so many veteran players in such wholesale fashion, and the method could pay off for a pair of teams attempting to rebound from dashed 2003 expectations. The rationale: On occasion in the NFL, you actually get more than what you paid for, and Bucs and Giants officials hope to uncover some viable contributors from among the imports.
Hey, a bargain is a bargain, no matter the category. So you spend a little money, maybe find a character player or two who can help you for a year, and it improves the product.
Take the Giants' latest acquisition, for example, 10-year veteran safety Brent Alexander. The dollar figures aren't in yet on the four-year contract Alexander signed Thursday, but they are not expected to be gaudy, with probably a cap charge in the $1-million area. The knock on Alexander in Pittsburgh was that he had lost a step. But for a palatable amount, the Giants get a safety who had four interceptions each of the last three seasons (the top New York thief in 2003 had two pickoffs), has never missed a game in his career, and probably still has enough savvy to be effective for at least one more season.
New York doled out five signing bonuses of seven figures, the largest being $4 million in up-front money to defensive tackle Fred Robbins, but will probably get seven or eight new starters from the 18-player influx. The defensive line, where the club signed five veteran free agents, is considerably deeper. Barrett Green is an emerging linebacker and clearly an upgrade. An offensive line in need of repair got two experienced blockers in Barry Stokes and Shaun O'Hara, not great players, but guys who have lined up as starters.
Said one Giants assistant: "All I know is we're better now than when we got here."
Maybe even more notable is the remaking of the Tampa Bay roster, an infusion that all but rivals the influx of immigrants to the U.S. shores seven decades ago, but which cost the Bucs very little, well, bucks. Everyone knew that when general manager Rich McKay exited the Bucs, coach Jon Gruden, a guy who never met an aging veteran he didn't want to acquire, would be like the little kid set loose in a candy store. But because of the club's cap constraints, Gruden and new general manager Bruce Allen were forced to shop at what we used to call the "penny candy" counter, instead of ogling the pricey chocolate-covered truffles of free agency.
The skeptics, who insist Gruden and Allen invested heavily in the NFL equivalent of the junk-bond market, might ultimately be correct in that assessment. But the Bucs probably gained seven new starters, four of them on the offensive line, and shook up a locker room that had become too staid.
Only four new players got seven-figure signing bonuses. Thirteen of the Bucs additions received $100,000 or less in up-front money and a half-dozen got zero signing bonus cash. Of the 22 imports, just two have 2004 base salaries higher than the league minimum that matches their NFL tenure. The average cap charge for the newcomers is just $657,000.
For sure, Tampa Bay might have gone a tad overboard on some older veterans, such as offensive linemen Todd Steussie and Derrick Deese and tailback Charlie Garner. But landing younger players like linebacker Ian Gold and cornerback Mario Edwards, who will make just $3.5 million between them in '04, was at least a mini-coup.
So it is good to see, as free agency winds down, that at least a few franchises borrowed some elements of the Patriots' blueprint. While it's true in the NFL that youth must be served, it's also a truism that veterans must at least be serviceable.
The bet here is that the Bucs and Giants each found a few free-agent acquisitions who will fit that category in 2004.
One of the theories at the outset of this year's free-agent signing period was that most teams would adhere to the New England Patriots paradigm, a system that has accentuated acquiring role players by signing them to modest contracts and then creating a way for those veterans to contribute.
Less than a week into the signing period, fueled by a cornerback market in which teams frivolously overpaid for several coverage players of dubious pedigree, the blueprint was obsolete. In a league where imitation is typically the sincerest form of flattery, and where the formula used by the defending Super Bowl champion typically becomes every other franchise's road map to success, the usual copycat mind-set was misplaced. Three months into free agency, the Patriots Path has become The Road to Perdition, it seems.
Uh, for the most part, that is.
There are a few teams that have spent frugally, other franchises that have invested zero on veteran free agents, some that have at least attempted to exercise some semblance of fiscal responsibility. But no two clubs have adhered more intimately to the New England system than the Tampa Bay Bucs and the New York Giants, each of which has brought in veterans by the truckload, but has done so without having to back a Brink's armored car to the nearest bank vault.
Maybe it wasn't a conscious exercise on the part of the two teams, but there had to be a modicum of planning involved, and it had to include a few pages from the manual used by coach Bill Belichick and personnel chief Scott Pioli in New England. For the Giants, it meant turning back the pages a bit to 2000, when the club signed graybeards like Glenn Parker and Lomas Brown and the two contributed mightily to an NFC title.
At last count the Bucs had either signed or claimed on waivers 22 veteran players. The investment includes just $13.82 million in signing bonuses, $26.95 million in total '04 compensation for the players, and only $14.46 million in cap room. The total does not include the $2 million in base salary the Bucs will pay wide receiver Joey Galloway, who was acquired in the trade that sent Keyshawn Johnson to the Dallas Cowboys.
The Giants, who in recent weeks seemed to sign a player every day, have imported 18 new veterans at a 2004 cost of approximately $24 million. That includes about $14.6 million in bonuses, but an investment of roughly $12.8 million in cap space. That's an average of only about $700,000 per newcomer, a small price to pay, especially to bolster a roster that a year ago suffered from lack of depth. Of course, the Giants, who next week figure to add quarterback Kurt Warner after his release by St. Louis, aren't quite done yet.
No prognosticator is likely to suggest either team is a favorite to appear in Super Bowl XXXIX. There is, though, a motive to the madness of adding so many veteran players in such wholesale fashion, and the method could pay off for a pair of teams attempting to rebound from dashed 2003 expectations. The rationale: On occasion in the NFL, you actually get more than what you paid for, and Bucs and Giants officials hope to uncover some viable contributors from among the imports.
Hey, a bargain is a bargain, no matter the category. So you spend a little money, maybe find a character player or two who can help you for a year, and it improves the product.
Take the Giants' latest acquisition, for example, 10-year veteran safety Brent Alexander. The dollar figures aren't in yet on the four-year contract Alexander signed Thursday, but they are not expected to be gaudy, with probably a cap charge in the $1-million area. The knock on Alexander in Pittsburgh was that he had lost a step. But for a palatable amount, the Giants get a safety who had four interceptions each of the last three seasons (the top New York thief in 2003 had two pickoffs), has never missed a game in his career, and probably still has enough savvy to be effective for at least one more season.
New York doled out five signing bonuses of seven figures, the largest being $4 million in up-front money to defensive tackle Fred Robbins, but will probably get seven or eight new starters from the 18-player influx. The defensive line, where the club signed five veteran free agents, is considerably deeper. Barrett Green is an emerging linebacker and clearly an upgrade. An offensive line in need of repair got two experienced blockers in Barry Stokes and Shaun O'Hara, not great players, but guys who have lined up as starters.
Said one Giants assistant: "All I know is we're better now than when we got here."
Maybe even more notable is the remaking of the Tampa Bay roster, an infusion that all but rivals the influx of immigrants to the U.S. shores seven decades ago, but which cost the Bucs very little, well, bucks. Everyone knew that when general manager Rich McKay exited the Bucs, coach Jon Gruden, a guy who never met an aging veteran he didn't want to acquire, would be like the little kid set loose in a candy store. But because of the club's cap constraints, Gruden and new general manager Bruce Allen were forced to shop at what we used to call the "penny candy" counter, instead of ogling the pricey chocolate-covered truffles of free agency.
The skeptics, who insist Gruden and Allen invested heavily in the NFL equivalent of the junk-bond market, might ultimately be correct in that assessment. But the Bucs probably gained seven new starters, four of them on the offensive line, and shook up a locker room that had become too staid.
Only four new players got seven-figure signing bonuses. Thirteen of the Bucs additions received $100,000 or less in up-front money and a half-dozen got zero signing bonus cash. Of the 22 imports, just two have 2004 base salaries higher than the league minimum that matches their NFL tenure. The average cap charge for the newcomers is just $657,000.
For sure, Tampa Bay might have gone a tad overboard on some older veterans, such as offensive linemen Todd Steussie and Derrick Deese and tailback Charlie Garner. But landing younger players like linebacker Ian Gold and cornerback Mario Edwards, who will make just $3.5 million between them in '04, was at least a mini-coup.
So it is good to see, as free agency winds down, that at least a few franchises borrowed some elements of the Patriots' blueprint. While it's true in the NFL that youth must be served, it's also a truism that veterans must at least be serviceable.
The bet here is that the Bucs and Giants each found a few free-agent acquisitions who will fit that category in 2004.