Biggest hits in free agency don't always deliver
If they handed out trophies for work in the offseason, Daniel Snyder would have a gallery full of them at Redskins Park.
He’s typically been the most aggressive owner in the league over the last decade when it comes to free agency, and that was certainly the case a year ago when he signed defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to a massive contract, one that led to greatly unfulfilled promise.
The Chicago Bears made perhaps the biggest move in the offseason a year ago when they made a blockbuster deal for quarterback Jay Cutler. Their record also got worse.
But a study by Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune focuses on free agency only in examining how the big kahuna affects a team in the coming season. The Bears landed that person this year, signing defensive end Julius Peppers on the first day of free agency and the belief is he will help turn around what has been three consecutive seasons of poor play on defense.
But in a story that is worth a read, Pompei notes that of the teams that have made the biggest signing in free agency over the last decade, only four of them had improved records the next season. Three of the teams fired their coach after the following season. None of them reached the Super Bowl. Drew Brees and Brad Johnson were the only two to make their team significantly better. Both, of course, are quarterbacks.
The only defensive end in the bunch was Jevon Kearse, who went from Tennessee to Philadelphia but never displayed his “Freak” for the Eagles. Kearse averaged 9