NFL FREE AGENCY REPORT

Dr. Donovan
Lead NFL Draft Expert


Although free agency is far from over, there area couple things that interested me about this year’s off-season. Kurt Warner is back with the Cardinals for 2 more seasons. This was a good move for both Warner and the Cardinals. Warner hasn’t finished many complete seasons without injury in his career and even though he had a stellar 2008 season, chances are he can only go down from here.

The Giants really bolstered their defense through free-agency picking up a slew of good defensive players including DT Rocky Bernard, LB Michael Boley and DE Chris Canty. This tells me that they are going offense heavy in the draft. They will definitely have one of the best sack-happy defensive lines in football next year if they stay healthy. The NY Jets also vastly improved their defense by getting arguably the best defensive player in free-agency in LB Bart Scott. They also filled other huge holes at CB by gaining Lito Shepard in a trade with Philly and signing free agent and former Raven SS Jim Leonhard. I can’t wait to see this defense next year. Denver wins the “Desperation is a stinky cologne” award by signing 12 free agents including SS Brian Dawkins, WR Jabar Gaffney, RBs JJ Arrington, Correll Buckhalter and Lamont Jordan. It is safe to say they won’t be picking up a RB in the first couple rounds of the draft this year but they did fill some holes through FA (or should I say “temporarily plug”).

Some of the bottom teams in the league last year plan to build through the draft apparently. The St. Louis Rams signed 1 player in FA and the Lions, Browns and Bengals did next to nothing. While I do believe that most teams over pay for about every FA, I do think it is a good chance to fill some gaps on your team with veteran players. Some teams like the Washington Redskins need to stop the madness. Over the past 10 years they have splurged over FAs and it has done nothing for them, but teams like the Rams and Bengals need to become players or hope their draft picks can come in and make an impact right away.

The big winner so far this year in FA has got to be the Giants. I will be looking forward to seeing the NFC East again this year as most teams in that division have already improved their defenses immensely. The big losers this off season so far are the Buffalo Bills. I won’t be surprised when we hear in 2 years that the Bills are moving to another city as the media blames TO for demolishing the entire franchise. Buffalo, “Get your popcorn and suitcases Ready!!”