Denver Native (Carol)
03-10-2009, 04:35 PM
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=526118
And you thought "awards season" ended with the Oscars.
The NFL's free-agent shopping season is ongoing, but most of the best -- and most expensive -- buys already have been made. So we have a good idea of what players and teams were on the money and which came up a few dollars short.
So here now, are the first edition of my NFL free-agency awards:
Best signing
Bart Scott, ILB, Jets. When you're making a big investment in a player, you want to take all the mystery out of it. Former Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan knows exactly what he's getting -- a tough, hardnosed 3-4 presence to align next to budding star David Harris.
Best bargain
Fred Taylor, RB, Patriots. New England could have spent more for a veteran back with younger legs, or waited until the first round of the draft. Instead, Jacksonville's loss is the Patriots' gain. Taylor should feel rejuvenated because he won't need to run against loaded fronts any more. Don't be surprised if he's motivated to have one of his best career seasons.
Biggest risk
Albert Haynesworth, DT, Redskins. Haynesworth has had health and attitude issues in the past, so you wonder that now he has his $100 million ($41 million guaranteed), what kind of effort you'll get from him. Also, it's not like Washington has made good fiscal sense in the Daniel Snyder era. Adam Archuleta, anyone?
Best use of franchise tag
Karlos Dansby, OLB, Cardinals. Larry Fitzgerald was awesome in the playoffs, but Arizona wouldn't have reached the Super Bowl without Dansby leading the defense. His ability to make plays all over the field is rare, and for the second consecutive offseason the Cards tagged him. Look for them to make him happy for the long term sometime soon.
Worst use of franchise tag
Antonio Bryant, WR, Buccaneers. So he comes back to the league for one good season, and he's good enough to earn near $10 million? Consider T.J. Houshmandzadeh is making nearly $2 million less, and Terrell Owens was a steal at $6.5 million. Also, Bryant did a lot of his damage because of good chemistry with Jeff Garcia, so who knows what will happen with a different QB.
Best name
Igor Olshansky, DE, Cowboys. Yes, he was able to beat out both Houshmandzadeh and Nnamdi Asomugha for this award. No one will confuse him with Dr. Frankenstein's creepy, impish lab assistant. Olshansky still is scary for offenses, a hulk of an end at 6-6 and 309 pounds. His signing makes sure Dallas won't worry about losing Chris Canty -- except the fact Canty will now play with the division rival Giants.
Best re-signing
Kurt Warner, QB, Cardinals. They needed him -- there's no way they would feel good about repeating in the NFC West with Matt Leinart at quarterback. Warner needed the Cardinals -- there's no way he would have found a better situation with an offense and receivers suited to what he can do at this stage of his career. This way, Warner has a real chance to end his NFL time with quite a two-year bang.
Best non re-signing
Brian Dawkins, S, Broncos. Think back to when the Eagles had cornerbacks Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor. They weren't sentimental about keeping them at an advanced age, and it was the right decision. Dawkins was a beloved, productive Eagle, but at 35, it was time to let him go to safety-desperate Denver. Quintin Mikell came on strong as the other safety last season, outplaying Dawkins, and he and ex-Brown Sean Jones make a fine young pair in their prime.
Best shopping spree
New York Giants. They will miss Steve Spagnuolo coordinating their defense, but they didn't waste time in adding some good depth to their attacking, prolific pass-rush unit. Canty and Rocky Bernard, along with a healthy Osi Umenyiora, will give them creativity with the line again. They also needed a good cover linebacker such as ex-Falcon Michael Boley to help when they blitz.
Worst shopping spree
Denver Broncos. So they got Dawkins and fellow safety Renaldo Hill; running backs J.J. Arrington, Correll Buckhalter and LaMont Jordan; wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, cornerback Andre' Goodman and inside linebacker Andra Davis. OK, that's a lot of moves, but they don't seem impactful -- individually or as a whole. They also alienated young quarterback Jay Cutler by dangling him in a non-trade.
Best tag and trade
Matt Cassel, Patriots to Chiefs New England got burned by the tag because of the high price tag for Cassel. If they were to go after a big defensive player such as Julius Peppers, they couldn't be locked in with Cassel's $14.5 million for long. That might have caused Bill Belichick to pull the trigger a little quickly in sending both Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel to old friend Scott Pioli in Kansas City.
It looks like a bad trade for the Patriots with just getting a second-rounder, but that's assuming Cassel lives up to the hype away from the Patriots' friendly offense. There's no guarantee that Cassel is a big upgrade over Tyler Thigpen.
Wide receiver who took too long to sign
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Seahawks. Early in the market, it seemed liked he would be a Giant or an Eagle, stepping into a prominent role on a marquee, competitive NFC East team. Then came the first visit to Seattle. Then was the ho-hum possibility of returning to Cincinnati. Then was the near signing at Minnesota, before being sleepless enough to return to Seattle. Sure, he's a good fit in the Seahawks' offense -- we just hoped for a more exciting outcome.
Wide receiver who signed too quickly
Terrell Owens, Bills. Come on, we were just getting used to the drama of several teams quickly coming out and saying they didn't want T.O., making us wonder if anyone wanted Owens' services. We wanted a long soap opera, considering the wacky possibilities of him in Silver and Black, and in one of the wackiest scenarios, playing with ex-Raider Randy Moss in New England. Buffalo's move ended an intriguing offseason story line before it got warmed up.
Vinnie Iyer is a staff writer for Sporting News. Email him at viyer@sportingnews.com.
And you thought "awards season" ended with the Oscars.
The NFL's free-agent shopping season is ongoing, but most of the best -- and most expensive -- buys already have been made. So we have a good idea of what players and teams were on the money and which came up a few dollars short.
So here now, are the first edition of my NFL free-agency awards:
Best signing
Bart Scott, ILB, Jets. When you're making a big investment in a player, you want to take all the mystery out of it. Former Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan knows exactly what he's getting -- a tough, hardnosed 3-4 presence to align next to budding star David Harris.
Best bargain
Fred Taylor, RB, Patriots. New England could have spent more for a veteran back with younger legs, or waited until the first round of the draft. Instead, Jacksonville's loss is the Patriots' gain. Taylor should feel rejuvenated because he won't need to run against loaded fronts any more. Don't be surprised if he's motivated to have one of his best career seasons.
Biggest risk
Albert Haynesworth, DT, Redskins. Haynesworth has had health and attitude issues in the past, so you wonder that now he has his $100 million ($41 million guaranteed), what kind of effort you'll get from him. Also, it's not like Washington has made good fiscal sense in the Daniel Snyder era. Adam Archuleta, anyone?
Best use of franchise tag
Karlos Dansby, OLB, Cardinals. Larry Fitzgerald was awesome in the playoffs, but Arizona wouldn't have reached the Super Bowl without Dansby leading the defense. His ability to make plays all over the field is rare, and for the second consecutive offseason the Cards tagged him. Look for them to make him happy for the long term sometime soon.
Worst use of franchise tag
Antonio Bryant, WR, Buccaneers. So he comes back to the league for one good season, and he's good enough to earn near $10 million? Consider T.J. Houshmandzadeh is making nearly $2 million less, and Terrell Owens was a steal at $6.5 million. Also, Bryant did a lot of his damage because of good chemistry with Jeff Garcia, so who knows what will happen with a different QB.
Best name
Igor Olshansky, DE, Cowboys. Yes, he was able to beat out both Houshmandzadeh and Nnamdi Asomugha for this award. No one will confuse him with Dr. Frankenstein's creepy, impish lab assistant. Olshansky still is scary for offenses, a hulk of an end at 6-6 and 309 pounds. His signing makes sure Dallas won't worry about losing Chris Canty -- except the fact Canty will now play with the division rival Giants.
Best re-signing
Kurt Warner, QB, Cardinals. They needed him -- there's no way they would feel good about repeating in the NFC West with Matt Leinart at quarterback. Warner needed the Cardinals -- there's no way he would have found a better situation with an offense and receivers suited to what he can do at this stage of his career. This way, Warner has a real chance to end his NFL time with quite a two-year bang.
Best non re-signing
Brian Dawkins, S, Broncos. Think back to when the Eagles had cornerbacks Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor. They weren't sentimental about keeping them at an advanced age, and it was the right decision. Dawkins was a beloved, productive Eagle, but at 35, it was time to let him go to safety-desperate Denver. Quintin Mikell came on strong as the other safety last season, outplaying Dawkins, and he and ex-Brown Sean Jones make a fine young pair in their prime.
Best shopping spree
New York Giants. They will miss Steve Spagnuolo coordinating their defense, but they didn't waste time in adding some good depth to their attacking, prolific pass-rush unit. Canty and Rocky Bernard, along with a healthy Osi Umenyiora, will give them creativity with the line again. They also needed a good cover linebacker such as ex-Falcon Michael Boley to help when they blitz.
Worst shopping spree
Denver Broncos. So they got Dawkins and fellow safety Renaldo Hill; running backs J.J. Arrington, Correll Buckhalter and LaMont Jordan; wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, cornerback Andre' Goodman and inside linebacker Andra Davis. OK, that's a lot of moves, but they don't seem impactful -- individually or as a whole. They also alienated young quarterback Jay Cutler by dangling him in a non-trade.
Best tag and trade
Matt Cassel, Patriots to Chiefs New England got burned by the tag because of the high price tag for Cassel. If they were to go after a big defensive player such as Julius Peppers, they couldn't be locked in with Cassel's $14.5 million for long. That might have caused Bill Belichick to pull the trigger a little quickly in sending both Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel to old friend Scott Pioli in Kansas City.
It looks like a bad trade for the Patriots with just getting a second-rounder, but that's assuming Cassel lives up to the hype away from the Patriots' friendly offense. There's no guarantee that Cassel is a big upgrade over Tyler Thigpen.
Wide receiver who took too long to sign
T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Seahawks. Early in the market, it seemed liked he would be a Giant or an Eagle, stepping into a prominent role on a marquee, competitive NFC East team. Then came the first visit to Seattle. Then was the ho-hum possibility of returning to Cincinnati. Then was the near signing at Minnesota, before being sleepless enough to return to Seattle. Sure, he's a good fit in the Seahawks' offense -- we just hoped for a more exciting outcome.
Wide receiver who signed too quickly
Terrell Owens, Bills. Come on, we were just getting used to the drama of several teams quickly coming out and saying they didn't want T.O., making us wonder if anyone wanted Owens' services. We wanted a long soap opera, considering the wacky possibilities of him in Silver and Black, and in one of the wackiest scenarios, playing with ex-Raider Randy Moss in New England. Buffalo's move ended an intriguing offseason story line before it got warmed up.
Vinnie Iyer is a staff writer for Sporting News. Email him at viyer@sportingnews.com.