By Mike Wilkening
Feb. 26, 2008

Two of the top potential free agents: Cowboys OT Flozell Adams and Patriots CB Asante Samuel

INDIANAPOLIS — You know this isn’t a banner free-agent class when the Redskins are wondering what all the fuss is about.

“I think a lot of the free agents will be overpaid,” Redskins executive vice president of football operations Vinny Cerrato said. He works for owner Daniel Snyder, who rarely flinches at the cost of doing business in free agency.

That cost will be higher than ever this offseason, thanks to a short supply of desirable free agents and a slew of teams with the salary-cap space needed to write the contracts long in length and heavy on the up-front, guaranteed money it will take to get into the game on the first weekend of free agency, which starts Feb. 29.

Widespread use of the franchise tag is the biggest reason for the lack of freely available top talent in unrestricted free agency. Twelve players (later reduced to 11) were designated their team’s franchise player, five more than last year. Eleven prospective free agents received the “non-exclusive” franchise tag, which requires teams to tender a player a one-year contract worth the greater of the average salary of the five highest-paid players at his position in 2007 or a 120 percent raise of his 2007 salary. A player who receives the non-exclusive tag can negotiate with other clubs, but his team has the right to match any offer and receives two first-round picks should it decline to match the financial package. Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha was the only prospective free agent to receive the “exclusive” franchise tag; he cannot negotiate with other clubs, but he will receive a one-year tender worth the greater of the average of the top five salaries at his position as of April 18, 2008, or the average of the top five cornerback salaries in ’07 or 120 percent of his ’07 salary.

The increased use of the franchise tag can be attributed to the same factors that will drive up prices at the beginning of free agency. Teams are better than ever at managing the salary cap; only a handful of teams — most notably the Redskins, which may explain their market stance — don’t have much spending room under the cap, which is $116 million, $7 million more than last season. The repeated rise of the salary cap, coupled with better cap management, has allowed teams to use the tag more frequently — and not just on their best players.

“There were non-starters that got the franchise tender this year,” Rams executive vice president of player personnel Billy Devaney said, likely referring to Bengals OT-OG Stacy Andrews and Packers DT Corey Williams, two relatively obscure players to the general public but ones who were likely to receive considerable interest on the open market. “That’s because the pool (of elite free agents) is so small this year. There’s going to be a small amount of players who are going to get ridiculous money, and people are going to say, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ ”

The tag particularly affected the market for defensive players. Eight defenders — Chiefs DE Jared Allen, Asomugha, Cardinals LB Karlos Dansby, Cowboys S Ken Hamlin, Titans DT Albert Haynesworth, Ravens OLB-DE Terrell Suggs, Seahawks CB Marcus Trufant and Williams — were designated franchise players. Half as many offensive players were tagged: Andrews, Colts TE Dallas Clark, Panthers OT Jordan Gross and Eagles TE L.J. Smith.

One day after giving Clark the franchise tag, the Colts removed it and signed him to a six-year contract. Several key non-tagged free agents also reached deals before the start of free agency. Indianapolis signed OLG Ryan Lilja to a five-year contract; evaluators polled by PFW said he would have been one of the top interior linemen available. Another coveted lineman, Seahawks ORT Sean Locklear, also re-signed for five years. And the Browns kept RB Jamal Lewis in the fold with a three-year deal.

With so much of their competition either off the market or saddled with the non-exclusive franchise tag, the top unrestricted free agents will have no shortage of suitors. A pair of Patriots — WR Randy Moss and CB Asante Samuel — are among the most highly desired free agents. Cowboys OLT Flozell Adams, Bears LB Lance ­Briggs, Steelers OLG Alan Faneca, Chargers RB Michael Turner and Bengals DE Justin Smith will also draw significant interest.

Of that group, only Moss is expected to re-sign with his current club, meaning the first days of free agency won’t be lacking for intrigue — or contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.

The ever-rising cost of adding veteran talent makes building a team predominantly through free agency an almost impossible task, given the hefty price the best free agents command.  

“It comes back to what you do in the draft, because that’s where you get the bang for the buck,” 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan said. “If you draft guys in the third and fourth round and get them locked in for three- or four-year deals, the amount of money you spend on them is much less than in free agency.

“In free agency, you always overspend.”

Teams looking to restricted free agency probably won’t find much cost relief, either. If the Browns can’t sign QB Derek Anderson to a ­multiyear contract before the start of free agency, they will give him the highest tender, which would require a club that wanted to lure Anderson to surrender first- and third-round draft picks if Cleveland didn’t match the offer sheet. Cowboys RB Marion Barber, one of the league’s most punishing runners, is a similar case.

That’s life under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, but the future of the CBA is uncertain, with owners expected to terminate the final two years of the agreement this November. NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw has said his membership will not take a smaller share of revenues than it did in the latest agreement, ratified in March 2006 after the owners agreed to a take-it-or-leave-it offer from the union. Should the owners vote to shorten the agreement later this year, the ’09 season would be the last covered by a salary cap.

Labor unrest may be on the horizon, but none of the executives who spoke publicly about the CBA at the Scouting Combine said they were going to drastically alter their preparation for this offseason.

“We’ve been, for some time now, talking about it, planning for it,” Packers general manager Ted Thompson said. “But it will be uncharted water, as well, so we’ll all learn as we go along.”

Judging from the ample cash available to teams and the short list of difference-making free agents, NFL teams have learned how to cope with free agency. But no matter how well teams plan ahead, no matter the risk of spending significant money on a veteran who may not perform as hoped, the big-ticket signings early in the signing period are always going to be a hallmark of free agency, Titans executive vice president/general manager Mike Reinfeldt said.

“I think every year is going to be the same,” he said. “There’s always horror stories — ‘This guy, we paid him all this money. What happened?’ … That being said, what happens every year is people have great needs, they’re in tough spots, and they jump in and do it. That’s going to continue.”

Related Articles:

Team-by-team free-agency previews
Feb. 26, 2008