Spring has sprung in the new year of the national football league, and the first order of business was free agency. This was a special year in the annual feeding-frenzy that is the open market of player personnel as multiple faces of franchise found new homes. From Darrelle Revis to Demarcus Ware, Eric Decker to Jairus Byrd 2014 was a tumultuous one for players and teams alike.
In times of such massive personnel shift the balance of power across the league is at stake. Franchises are constantly rising or falling on the path to championship glory, and free agency represents either an escalator ride to the top of victory mountain, or a landslide into the depths of despair and futility, see Raiders, Oakland. We know that Cleveland, Denver, New England, Tampa Bay, and quietly the New York Giants were the big players in the game of personnel shifting during this offseason, but who won, and who lost in the race to the peak of rostering-excellence?
Five Biggest Losers of Free Agency Thus Far
5. Oakland Raiders
Things have not been quite right in Oakland since Rich Gannon last graced the silver and black. Now the black-hole of dead money, the Raiders had by far the most money to spend entering free agency; yet they did almost nothing with it.
Sure, signing Tarell Brown on the cheap as a complement to D.J. Hayden was a nice value signing and acquiring the rotting carcass of a once-great defensive end in Justin Tuck will be a plausible stop-gap for the loss of Lamar Houston but did we not all expect more from the annual punching-bag of the NFL?
Yes Oakland managed to lock up the ancient Lamar Woodley and the relatively irrelevant Antonio Smith but the Raiders let the benchmark of their offensive line in Jared Veldheer bolt for Arizona, and the aforementioned Houston jet to the windy city. What makes the Veldheer loss worse is that Oakland did nothing to fill the hole left by the best offensive lineman on the team.
The black hole’s front office even managed to botch the potential signing of Veldheer’s should-have could-have would-have been replacement in Rodger Saffold who failed his physical, and promptly inked a deal with the St. Louis Rams.
Sure, the signing of James Jones is a bright spot in a sea of ineffective management; but the lack of money spent with so much cap room matched by the players Oakland lost makes them a lock for the free agency losers list. Oh and don’t forget the resigning of Darren McFadden who has yet to play a full season in his pro career. Yep, the Raiders will continue the trend of infuriation for their fan-base that has lasted over a decade.
4. Cincinnati Bengals
A team with such promise from a season ago fell short in the playoffs once again, as is the Marvin Lewis way. Another constant of the Coach Lewis era is his resignation towards spending big money in free agency. With $27 million to spend and few holes to fill, many expected the Bengals to snag a superstar to take an already superior roster to the next level.
Instead, Cincinnati bade farewell to one-year wonder James Harrison lost premier pass rusher Michael Johnson to the Buccaneers, wide receiver Andrew Hawkins was tendered by the Browns, and two key pieces to the offensive line are no longer with the team in tackle Anthony Collins and center Kyle Cook.
In fact the only move the Bengals did make was resigning outside linebacker Vincent Rey to shore up the edge of their 3-4 front. With so much money to spend and new holes at strongside linebacker and center, many expected much more out of the orange and the black making them losers of the early free agency period.
3. Washington Redskins
After the Shanahan regime left our nation’s capital many fans of the most controversial franchise in professional sports rejoiced in optimistic bliss that Jay Gruden would turn around this Titanic of sinking franchises.
After the bulk of free agency has concluded and with no first round pick in the upcoming draft, things aren’t looking so good in D.C. First on the docket was re-signing Brian Orakpo who was franchised by has still refused to sign his tender. The next rumor out of Redskins-nation was that they would be in play for one of the big-name players in the secondary, an important area for a unit that allowed 52 touchdowns in 2013 and was amongst the league’s worst in pass coverage.
Washington then proceeded to completely miss the buck on big names like Revis, Miami’s Brent Grimes and the newest face in Tampa Bay’s secondary, Alterraun Verner. The Redskins elected to sign Tracy Porter and resign one of the league’s relics of pass-defense ineffectiveness in DeAngelo Hall.
Add these inferior signings to the Jason Hatcher deal, who many deem to be a poor scheme fit for Washington’s defense, and the Redskins seem to have flubbed this whole “fresh start” deal. Perhaps the only saving grace for an ineffective signing period are the duo of depth-linebackers Washington inked in Darryl Sharpton and Adam Hayward who will add needed versatility to a struggling unit. After just a three win season in 2013, the Redskins have fallen into the realm of irrelevancy in the NFC East.
2. Dallas Cowboys
Not only did Dallas lose its defensive centerpiece in Demarcus Ware, they brought in Brandon Weeden as a potential backup for Tony Romo who will make just over $27 million next year due to a contract restructuring.
Not sure if that counts in terms of this article, but the loss of the Cowboys’ all-time leader in sacks certainly does. After losing Jason Hatcher to the rival-Redskins, Dallas balked and brought Terrell McClain over from Houston.
With a defensive line in shambles and less than significant cap room or value left on the market, Dallas has once again fumbled away a chance to be relevant in the NFC East.
1. Carolina Panthers
Who needs wide receivers when you've got a riverboat captain? "Riverboat" Ron Rivera's Panthers said goodbye to face of franchise wideout Steve Smith and the underwhelming Brandon LaFell during the early stages of free agency. While these moves would have been understandable had the big cats from Carolina had replacements in mind, the lack of reinforcements in the Panthers' receiving corps is a mistake of potentially epic proportions.
Currently, Cam Newton has more career passes than any receiver on the team's roster. To make matters worse on offense, longtime star of Carolina's offensive line Jordan Gross retired leaving a massive hole in Newton's pass protection.
The story does not get any better on defense as safety Mike Mitchell bolted for the steel city, and Captain Munnerlyn signed on with the Minnesota Vikings. The only replacement for these two integral pieces of the Black Cat's secondary was former New Orleans' Saint Roman Harper who is a significant downgrade from the upside of Mitchell. At this point it is unclear which direction the reigning NFC South Champions are headed, but we do know that they will be running the ball.
Five Biggest Winners of Free Agency Thus Far
5. Jacksonville Jaguars
Unlike the situation in Oakland, things are looking up for another perennial laughingstock of the league. Gus Bradley has brought over some reinforcements from the land of the 12th man signing defensive linemen Red Bryant and Chris Clemons.
Adding more fuel to a soon to be rejuvenated defensive front is veteran Ziggy Hood who will help turn around the team’s 4-12 campaign from a season ago.
Furthermore, the team added former Minnesota Viking Toby Gerhart to rejuvenate a backfield left barren by the departure of Maurice Jones-Drew and even managed to get rid of that dumpster-fire of a first round quarterback prospect, Blaine Gabbert. Jacksonville also shored up the offensive line with the acquisition of guard Zane Beadles. Things are looking up for Florida’s least appreciated franchise, and much of the credit lies with Coach Bradley.
4. Cleveland Browns
While many scoffed at the signing of Donte Whitner as a replacement for T.J. Ward in the team’s secondary, Cleveland was proactive in their pursuit of a replacement and refused to lose momentum on defense. In response to team-leader D’Qwell Jackson‘s departure, the team opened up their checkbooks and brought Karlos Dansby to the Dawg Pound.
Dansby had a career year in 2013, and had more sacks, interceptions, and pass deflections one year in Arizona than Jackson had in two seasons with the Browns. On the offensive side of the ball, Cleveland replaced the once-great but now difficult to watch Willis McGahee with Texans’ rusher Ben Tate who will get his first crack at a full-time starting gig.
Add these additions to the fact that the team was able to ditch overrated and ineffective guard Shawn Lauvao, the deplorable Davone Bess and both lackluster gunslingers Brandon Weeden and Jason Campbell and the Browns have made great strides towards improving during the first portion of the offseason.
3. New York Giants
Three of the four NFC East teams made this list, but only the Giants were intelligent enough to make it on the bountiful portion. Shrewd spending was the story of New York's early free agency period as the Giants' brought in guard Geoff Schwartz and center J.D. Watson to fill a massive hole at the middle of a porous offensive line.
New York addressed a major need on the defensive side of the ball as well signing Walter Thurmond to shore up the slot, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to start opposite Prince Amukamara. While the Giants still have holes on defensive line left by Justin Tuck and Linval Joseph 's departures, New York certainly improved the wounded-duck of a defense from 2013.
Furthermore, while massive need exists at both tight end and running back, the Giants resigned Rueben Randle to a one year deal as a stopgap for Eli Manning 's offense. New York was the only team to narrow the precipice between the Philadelphia Eagles and the rest of the NFC East, and for that they get a place amongst the greats of the free agent spending period.
2. New England Patriots
Annually spectacular, New England was up to its old ways during the start of free agency improving a roster so that Tom Brady could make one more run at glory.
After last season's debacle at wide receiver, the Patriots brought in Brandon LaFell in from Carolina and resigned Julian Edelman to supplement Rob Gronkowski 's featured role in the offense. However, Belichick's front office didn't stop there and took a gamble on former Seahawk Brandon Browner to aid a secondary that is now Talib-less.
The biggest splash New England made during the start of free agency was inking the recently released Darrelle Revis. However, this move was not well received by Vince Wilfork who promptly asked for his release following the big bucks being doled out to Revis.
Wilfork has yet to be granted his release, so maybe just peace of mind was the only casualty of the Patriots' spending spree. Regardless, the beasts of the AFC East did well to improve an already talented roster making them the only true rivals to the number one spender during free agency.
1. Denver Broncos
Had the Broncos simply maintained their current roster they would still have been considered favorites to repeat as AFC Champions. But John Elway’s management does not like to stand idly by as potential value players sign with opposing franchises. Denver re-tooled significantly on defense this offseason signing Ware, T.J. Ward Emmanuel Sanders and Aqib Talib.
Talib and Ward will shore up a secondary that was questionable at best and lost Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie to the Giants during free agency. Ware will fill the void left by Wesley Woodyard and will complement Von Miller nicely in the pass rush when the latter returns from season-ending surgery. Sanders, while not as talented as Eric Decker, will bring more than enough to the table alongside Wes Welker Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas in Peyton Manning ‘s arsenal.
While many cite offensive line issues as a major need for Denver to address, that same group forgets that Ryan Clady, one of the league’s best pass protectors will return to the team in 2014.
Furthermore, Montee Ball averaged almost a full yard more per carry last season than the now-departed Knowshon Moreno and the team fills the sophomore back will be relevant enough to fill the shoes left vacant by Moreno. Not only did Denver address their biggest need and replace some seasoned parts, they improved drastically on defense solidifying their spot as the best the AFC has to offer and legitimate Super Bowl contenders.