 THE FA MARKET, BY BAMARAMFAN (Feb 20) |
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FACTORS IN THE MARKET. You
have to remember, it takes 2 people to sign a deal. You can sit back and say, "The
Rams should have done this, or the Rams should have done that". Fine. But they simply
can't if the agents want to test the FA market for their client. Its really why they are
there, for the lower round and undrafted free agents. They don't make the big bucks like
everyone else. The half life of a player is 5 years in the league. FIVE YEARS. Every agent
knows that. They can only get the big bucks after FOUR YEARS. Thus, they really only have
1 shot, ONE SHOT, in their career for it. Any agent who doesn't know this is a really bad
agent. So what should the Rams have done? Offered to quadruple the salaries of 15 players after this year? You know that simply couldn't be done. By looking at what some of the OL signings are going for this year, maybe matching Tucker's deal isn't all that bad. At least they know what they are getting and who they are dealing with. And why are these guys getting the bucks? Because there are no big time ball handlers out there. No big name RB's, WR, or QB's available right now. Mohammed and Galloway were gone early. Banks, Miller and the Cinci Qb were the best QB's? And RB's? Which name RB is available, outside of a maybe retired Barry Sanders? (I'm talking ones without the franchise or transition tag) So, most of the FA money is going to the OL and DL this year. At just the time the Rams have to resign several of those guys. Bad timing, but, hey, that's life. If you look at the last 2 years, very few restricted FA were offered deals like Clemons and Tucker got. Very few, of course my memory may be off here. Basically, the restricted FA were hands off. Remember all the talk about Jeffers from last year? Was he worth giving up the 5th rd pick? When Jeffers finally went to the Panthers it was at the end of the FA period, not at the start. Also another very big change this year. The FA period got moved up by 2 weeks, giving the Super Bowl teams very little time to get a strategy together. I wonder why. Maybe its because the teams that really control the NFL wereout of the playoffs all together or lost their first game (Raiders, Chiefs, Lions, Steelers, Bears, Packers, Niners), Remember, this change happened AFTER the season was over, not before. So in this case, the Rams had the smallest response time of any Champion. Also, you have to look at who is doing the buying. Its the teams with the first or second year coaches. The guys with something to prove. The new standard has been set. It used to be build through the draft and give 'em 5 years to have a winner. The timetable is now 3 years for any new coach, courtesy of the Jags, Falcons, and of course, the Rams. The buyers---> Dolphins - new coach Saints - new coach Ravens - 2nd year coach Panthers - 2nd yr coach Eagles - 2nd yr coach Seahawks - 2nd yr coach Cards - 3rd(?) yr coach Skins - 1st year owner pressuring coach The Titans used the money they had planned on Runyon for Miller, so not really a change there. The Cowboys used money they gained on Irving retiring on Galloway, no change there. |
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