The NFL free agency signing period opened yesterday with three of the biggest names on the list quickly signing with new teams. With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire at the end of the 2011 season and with 2010 expected to be played uncapped, it was the Bears, Giants and Dolphins showing no fear wading into the free agency waters and making a splash.
Peppers Highlights First Day Of Free Agent Signings
The Bears struck first with the biggest name on the market in Carolina Panthers DE Julius Peppers. With Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and the executive team on the hot seat, the conservative Bears opened their wallets to save their own hides. Despite being on the north side of 30, Peppers was showered with a six-year deal worth up to $91.5 million, with $42 million guaranteed. Taking advantage of the uncapped season, the Bears loaded $20 million into the first season of the contract. The Bears were very busy yesterday, also signing Vikings RB Chester Taylor and San Diego TE Brandon Manumaleuna.
It’s do or die in the Windy City.
A similar atmosphere loomed in the Meadowlands yesterday, with the New York Giants scrambling to fill holes in a defense that went from being the best in the NFL to the worst in the NFL in the middle of one season. With gaping holes at linebacker and safety, the Giants will likely address these areas of need in both the free agency signing period and at the draft. With a treasure trove of linebackers in the draft, the Giants passed on Arizona LB Karlos Dansby and signed his teammate, S Antrel Rolle, fresh off his first Pro Bowl since converting from cornerback.
Rolle was released by the Cardinals last week in a salary dump move. Rolle was due a $3 million roster bonus as well as an $8 million salary for the final season of his contract. The Giants were quick to swoop in and pick up the top safety on the market and make him the highest paid safety in NFL history. The deal is a five-year contract worth $37 million, of which $15 million is guaranteed.
After losing out on Rolle, the Miami Dolphins targeted Dansby to fill the hole left by the departure of the talented malcontent LB Joey Porter. Dansby is the first change made under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan to fix a defense that melted under pressure and caused the Dolphins to miss out on back-to-back playoff appearances. Dansby was awarded a five year deal worth $43 million, with $22 million guaranteed.
The first day of free agency was marked by defense, defense, defense. Outside of the Baltimore Raven’s trade for Anquan Boldin, very little news occurred on that side of the ball. Expect to see momentum pick up on offensive signings in the next few days.
This year the NFL is trying some new things to spice up the Pro Bowl in 2010. As we have all heard by now, the Pro Bowl is the week before the Superbowl, instead of afterward, and it will take place in Miami instead of the traditional location in Hawaii.
The location isn’t necessarily a bad thing since there are plenty of sunny weather locations in early February, but there are a couple things I liked every year about it being in Hawaii. I like that they wore jersey’s with aloha flower water marks on them; which made each jersey a little more unique (which helped increase their sales), and that they touted Hawaiian leis during interviews to really give you that Pro Bowl feeling.
Saying “You’ll be seeing him in Hawaii” to a player performing at Pro Bowl status during the regular season was always fun as well.
All of these things aside I can see why they would like to move locations to the US mainland. For one, it would make going to the Pro Bowl more accessible to people that were previously unable to incur the cost of the travel expenses it took to go to the Pro Bowl. The flight, the hotel, the intermittent traveling, all on top of the cost of a Pro Bowl ticket package could get rather costly.
Bringing it to the mainland means that people could drive the distance to see their favorite players, and inter-US flights would make it relatively cheaper. Cities could too benefit from having the extra tourist volume coming from hosting an event coming from a gigantic brand like the NFL.
What the Pro Bowl is ruining is the meaning of the honor itself due to its new scheduling. Now that the Pro Bowl is a week early of the Superbowl, many players that are participating in the Super Bowl are opting out of participating because…. they are getting ready for the f-in Superbowl. Who in their right mind would get voted into the Pro Bowl, and actually play in it if they were going to the Superbowl?
The Superbowl is the most important achievement in the sport; it’s what these players live for. Even if a player said “derr, I’ll play”, the coach and organization would stop that noise real quick. This eliminates anybody voted to the Pro Bowl who is in the Superbowl; so no Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Jonathan Vilma, Darren Sharper, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Antoine Bethea, and others.
Almost equally as important as who isn’t in the Pro Bowl would be who IS in the Pro Bowl as their replacements. This list includes: Donovan McNabb (for Drew Brees), London Fletcher (for Jonathan Vilma), Antrel Rolle (for Darren Sharper), Quintin Mikell (for Roman Harper), David Garrard (for Peyton Manning), Vincent Jackson (for Reggie Wayne), Heath Miller (for Dallas Clark), Kevin Mawae (for Jeff Saturday), Kyle Vanden Bosch (for Dwight Freeney), and Yeremiah Bell (for Antoine Bethea), and others.
This results in a total of 17 “replacement” pro bowl additions. All of these players are “good” NFL players, but if you’re telling me you’d rather see David Garrard over Peyton, or Heath Miller over Dallas Clark, or Vanden Bosch over Freeney, you must be insane. Now the Pro Bowl itself has been watered down by players that weren’t voted in because they weren’t the best at their position during the regular season.
The drop off for some of these positions is significant when considering the level at which a Peyton Manning is playing when compared to David Garrard. What will suffer will be the various skill games that are played by individual players before the game (by not showcasing the best player at that position in every case), and the game itself (by not having all of the best players on the field). Will this also have some effect on HOF players getting in where a player may get 1 or 2 more Pro Bowl visits during their career that wouldn’t normally have happened? You could make a case…
Now I know this is marginalized because it’s not a “real” game, but even if it isn’t, you don’t have to treat it like it’s not by instituting a new “twist” designed to increase attention given to the game, but makes those deserving players unavailable to participate. I don’t see this approach lasting more than this trial year before being moved back. Do you think this is a good idea? I do not.
Two other things I’d like to point out is that I am surprised this didn’t get vetoed by the owners considering that the players that make it to the Pro Bowl have incentives in their contracts that say “I get paid when I make the Pro Bowl”; meaning that owners and organizations are shelling out some bu-coo bucks where they normally wouldn’t have had to. The other thing is that it is being reported that the Pro Bowl in Miami might not even sell out, and tickets are as low as $20 to get in. Is this the result of the Pro Bowl not actually being “the best of the best”?
