Free Agency is Overrated

[85Cowboy85]

I would rather get most of the core players through the draft. You need to be able to find good role players from the later stages of free agency to fill out your team. The Kyle Kosiers of the world if you will.

You can't have a big contract or a high draft pick at every position. Nevermind the backups to every position.

 

[JonJon]

I'd rather use the draft too. Tough to do when you can't draft and only have six picks.

I hear ya. If it were up to me, I would trade some of these aging veterans while they still have value and keep getting younger players with easier to manage contracts.

 

[StarBoyz83]

Im ok with doing nothing so far actually. You like to see people coming in but oh well. The steelers havent done anything in FA. They are one of the best franchises and teams easily in the nfl.

 

[cowboysooner]

I'd rather use the draft too. Tough to do when you can't draft and only have six picks.

Come on. Not having a seventh changes very little.

 

[scottsp]

Count me as one who is also not a fan of pursuing big-ticket items in free agency. I mean, there are specific exceptions, but normally I feel waiting for the initial dust to settle and almost bottom feeding is a more practical way to go.

That said, there has been no philosophical shift at VR. They are simply unable to go to market. And while that may be a good thing in terms of saving the front office from itself, it still makes it that much tougher to address some glaring needs.

Perhaps if the brain trust could be relied upon build from front-to-back on both sides of the ball, and stay the course with that approach, I might feel better about how they do their business.

 

[EJ Blue]

Free agency isn't a big deal for top tier teams because they have most of the pieces in place and just have to add depth by building through the draft and minor transactions in free agency. Then they know they can compete throughout the season. Can this team say the same? Then free agency is a big deal.

 

[fanfromvirginia]

I like free agents and I cannot lie!

I don't care if they don't work. I understand intellectually that most won't. But I still like the buzz when we go grab them. It's fun and that's ultimately what I'm in this for. It provides a little hope and as bad as Jerry is, his comparative advantage as an owner is his willingness and ability to go get guys.

I liked last year and I don't like this year, although I didn't expect us to be active so 'disappointment' would be the wrong word.

 

[jnday]

I'd rather use the draft too. Tough to do when you can't draft and only have six picks.

I doubt you would agree, but I would like to see them trade some of these overvalued and overpayed CBs for more draft picks.

 

[Doomsay]

Stuff that we can't do because our FO has squandered all of our resources is overrated and stuff.

 

[Idgit]

For fun. It looks like most were excited about the signing, and there were mixed reactions to the amount. A fair number of posters understood that we overpaid.

That's the thing about VFA. It's awesome, because it's fun to fill holes and add veteran talent. You overpay. We all understand that, I think.

Personally, I wish we had the room to overpay for a young player or two. We could use them. We can probably address our holes in the draft, anyway, if we're able to add 2-3 role player vets to replace the veteran role players we lost. It just makes the draft dicier because you're looking to both get value *and* maneuver into position to do it at positions of need, which his harder. Fortunately, this draft is deep at our positions of need.

 

[Nightman]

This year seems like a good time to get a S or DE though. A lot of very good deals so far. A veteran RB to back up Murray should be cheap too. They have to resign either Romo or Spencer, some of these deals are too good to pass on.

 

[honyock]

I heard Bill Polian on NFL Radio last night. He talked at length about how free agency has changed with the new CBA and how it's impacted how teams are having to treat free agent signings. Went on for awhile, really intelligent and saw the big picture of the changing landscape in the league.

He said that since 2009, the salary cap has gone down (except for the crazy uncapped 2010), and is only now back to 2009 levels. The problem was, teams had gotten in the habit of planning for dead money in contracts on the assumption that the cap would continue to go up and absorb the dead money. And lots of them got stuck with previously written contracts based on the old approach when things changed, and many are still struggling to deal with that.

He said that's why you see less big signings. He said that he and Bill Parcells wrote an article about their recommended approach (which I couldn't find anywhere). They regard tier one free agents to be age 28 max, good production, no significant injury history/character concerns. Those guys and only those guys should get the big money, and it tiers down from there. He said that he and Parcells drew up the tier one targets for this FA season, and that so far, GM's around the league seem to be adhering to some version of the same philosophy - the only big contracts so far fit that tier one criteria.

They just can't afford to step too far outside of that, given the projetions of a relatively flat cap until 2016. They don't have the wiggle room that they did in the era before the new CBA. The main exception to this is at QB, but they have to make painful allowances elsewhere when they go crazy on a QB contract (see Baltimore).

It was really good stuff, seen from a GM perspective, about how the whole mindset of GM's has had to change.

 

[Nightman]

I heard Bill Polian on NFL Radio last night. He talked at length about how free agency has changed with the new CBA and how it's impacted how teams are having to treat free agent signings. Went on for awhile, really intelligent and saw the big picture of the changing landscape in the league.

He said that since 2009, the salary cap has gone down (except for the crazy uncapped 2010), and is only now back to 2009 levels. The problem was, teams had gotten in the habit of planning for dead money in contracts on the assumption that the cap would continue to go up and absorb the dead money. And lots of them got stuck with previously written contracts based on the old approach when things changed, and many are still struggling to deal with that.

He said that's why you see less big signings. He said that he and Bill Parcells wrote an article about their recommended approach (which I couldn't find anywhere). They regard tier one free agents to be age 28 max, good production, no significant injury history/character concerns. Those guys and only those guys should get the big money, and it tiers down from there. He said that he and Parcells drew up the tier one targets for this FA season, and that so far, GM's around the league seem to be adhering to some version of the same philosophy - the only big contracts so far fit that tier one criteria.

They just can't afford to step too far outside of that, given the projetions of a relatively flat cap until 2016. They don't have the wiggle room that they did in the era before the new CBA. The main exception to this is at QB, but they have to make painful allowances elsewhere when they go crazy on a QB contract (see Baltimore).

It was really good stuff, seen from a GM perspective, about how the whole mindset of GM's has had to change.

They still aren't back to 2009 levels. It was 129m then and is only 123m now. Good stuff though and there is a similar arcticle from Bill Barnwell on Grantland.

 

[honyock]

They still aren't back to 2009 levels. It was 129m then and is only 123m now. Good stuff though and there is a similar arcticle from Bill Barnwell on Grantland.

Oops, you're right. My bad. Too many numbers floating around in my head.

That makes Polian's argument even stronger and makes more sense from what he was saying about GM's caught unprepared by the new cap realities.

 

[Idgit]

I heard Bill Polian on NFL Radio last night. He talked at length about how free agency has changed with the new CBA and how it's impacted how teams are having to treat free agent signings. Went on for awhile, really intelligent and saw the big picture of the changing landscape in the league.

He said that since 2009, the salary cap has gone down (except for the crazy uncapped 2010), and is only now back to 2009 levels. The problem was, teams had gotten in the habit of planning for dead money in contracts on the assumption that the cap would continue to go up and absorb the dead money. And lots of them got stuck with previously written contracts based on the old approach when things changed, and many are still struggling to deal with that.

He said that's why you see less big signings. He said that he and Bill Parcells wrote an article about their recommended approach (which I couldn't find anywhere). They regard tier one free agents to be age 28 max, good production, no significant injury history/character concerns. Those guys and only those guys should get the big money, and it tiers down from there. He said that he and Parcells drew up the tier one targets for this FA season, and that so far, GM's around the league seem to be adhering to some version of the same philosophy - the only big contracts so far fit that tier one criteria.

They just can't afford to step too far outside of that, given the projetions of a relatively flat cap until 2016. They don't have the wiggle room that they did in the era before the new CBA. The main exception to this is at QB, but they have to make painful allowances elsewhere when they go crazy on a QB contract (see Baltimore).

It was really good stuff, seen from a GM perspective, about how the whole mindset of GM's has had to change.

Interesting. That puts Spencer right on the outside of the arbitrary 28 year old age bracket, but otherwise in that top tier. I could see that being the sticking point, with he and his agent wanting top money, and the Cowboys insisting on blue-chipping him. Especially when they have the franchising option that'd put him on the market again at over 30 yo next year.

 

[Risen Star]

Come on. Not having a seventh changes very little.

Probably not but when you have an abortion for a salary cap, you might want to set yourself up with extra picks in the draft. That's what a real GM might do.

It sure would be nice to be sitting here with 9 or 10 picks in April.

 

[Beast_from_East]

Lets be real here fellas, the reason we have not signed a single free agent is because Romo and Spencer are counting almost $30 million against the cap right now.

Ergo........we are not signing anybody because we have no money, there has been no philosophical shift at Valley Ranch.

 

[Future]

Or maybe seen the light?

Or maybe every year is different...

 

[Risen Star]

Lets be real here fellas, the reason we have not signed a single free agent is because Romo and Spencer are counting almost $30 million against the cap right now.

Ergo........we are not signing anybody because we have no money, there has been no philosophical shift at Valley Ranch.

Stephen Jones admitted as much a couple of weeks ago saying don't expect another FA period like the last one. They can't do that every year.

 

[JonJon]

Lets be real here fellas, the reason we have not signed a single free agent is because Romo and Spencer are counting almost $30 million against the cap right now.

Ergo........we are not signing anybody because we have no money, there has been no philosophical shift at Valley Ranch.

Unfortunately, you are probably right.