CLATYON- WINNERS AND LOSERS OF FREE AGENCY

[Bretsky]

It's laughable that this stuff is even being written just one week into free agency, but here it is

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft08/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3274514

[HarveyWallbangers]

I'm quite happy not to be on the winner's list.

I'd venture to guess that most on the winner's list in previous years didn't see dramatic improvement.

[Bretsky]

It's interesting to see the Jets sign Damon Woody; four first round draft picks on the list

I doubt Green Bay will ever be on either list just a week into it

[HarveyWallbangers]

It's interesting to see the Jets sign Damon Woody; four first round draft picks on the list

I doubt Green Bay will ever be on either list just a week into it

I'm guessing that they might make a list this year--if they sign a couple of guys.

The got a 2nd round pick for Williams and they won't lose any other meaningful players. If they sign a couple of players, somebody will jump on their bandwagon. I think some of the national writers are starting to become aware that overspending on average players hasn't worked out that well.

[PackerBlues]

Thompson has to be on the "winners list" already. He has been busier this off season than he was at this time last year. What will it take to make people happy? Thompson has not only gotten the team an extra 2'nd round pick for the draft, but has also signed OL Joe Toledo. :shock: :roll:

[BallHawk]

I think the media now realizes that TT doesn't need to sign FAs to win.

[Freak Out]

Winners and losers? Take a look in the mirror Clayton. Ok...he does have a job to do but these schmucks are all the same. Mort and his #4 story about Moss is the same BS. We'll see who the winners and losers are next January.

Speaking of Moss....now that he is officially back with the Pats does Favre retire on Tuesday? Better put in a call to Mort.

[gbpackfan]

Aren't the Vikings on the "Winners" list every year? And then the games are no longer played on paper, and they're losers again. Clayton is a dweeb.

[Deputy Nutz]

This is stupid. Teams have an agenda, and usually weak teams make a splash in free agency, and usually remain weak.

The Cleveland Browns have mortgaged their future with the trades for Williams and Rodgers, if those two don't play up to expectations the have really put a serious dent in their future with losing all of their first day picks.

[Brohm]

Anyone have the "winner's list" from last year?

[Lurker64]

Anyone have the "winner's list" from last year?
Here you go (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2789661)

Pretty comical in retrospect.

Winners include: the 1-15 Miami Dolphins, the 5-11 San Francisco 49ers, and the 7-9 Denver Broncos. The Patriots and Bucs did in fact improve.

Losers include: Superbowl Champion New York Giants, the NFC Runner Up Green Bay Packers, and the Houston Texans who just had the best season in the history of their franchise (they were 8-8 while playing in a division where each of the other 3 teams made the playoffs.) The Raiders and Ravens did legitimately get worse.

[sepporepi]

He got 2 out of 5 right both times :) . For a sports writer it is a pretty good rate :oops:

[Iron Mike]

I'm just happy to see Chicago in the "Losers" section. :P

[Fritz]

Lurker, thanks for posting last year's "winners and losers" column.

Har har har. John Clayton knows about as much as I do about football, yet he gets paid lots of money to make up shit.

And yes, the Queens are usually everybody's favorite off-season most-improved, and after their new and questionable signings, they will be again.

Free agency is a way to buy some (temporary) good press for teams. Damien Woody is not going to push the Jets into the playoffs. Tommy Kelly is not going to put the Raiders over the top.

[pittstang5]

I was watching NFL Total Access last night and Adam Shefter and Rod Woodson did a similiar segment of winners and losers. Adam stated that he thought the Packers were losers, because they had a chance to sign Moss and didn't, stating that bringing in Moss would ensure Favre coming back. I disagree and think to label the packers as losers because they didn't pick up Moss is asinine.

[LL2]

Anyone have the "winner's list" from last year?
Here you go (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2789661)

Pretty comical in retrospect.

Winners include: the 1-15 Miami Dolphins, the 5-11 San Francisco 49ers, and the 7-9 Denver Broncos. The Patriots and Bucs did in fact improve.

Losers include: Superbowl Champion New York Giants, the NFC Runner Up Green Bay Packers, and the Houston Texans who just had the best season in the history of their franchise (they were 8-8 while playing in a division where each of the other 3 teams made the playoffs.) The Raiders and Ravens did legitimately get worse.

I think we will see the same thing next year on this years winners and losers. Most of these players are not worth the money they are getting.

Peter King wrote the following yesterday in MMQB

After three days of free agency, I have one word for you. It's the same word I use every year for this weekend, when, say, a non-Pro Bowler coming off a two-sack season and an ACL surgery (Tommy Kelly, Oakland) gets a big contract because of free agency, as do a pair of pockmarked defensive tackles (Kris Jenkins, Jets; Shaun Rogers, Cleveland) from teams that start thinking such players are different than their former teams saw.

"Wow!"

But I'm not surprised, not when the 32 teams started free agency Friday morning with a combined $538 million in salary-cap room, and not in a league in which New York won the Super Bowl just 26 days earlier. The Giants won just seven weeks after they looked like every other just-OK team in football; and if they could beat the almighty Patriots just a few weeks after the Vikings and the Redskins had made New York look so incredibly flawed, then what's to keep perhaps 20 or so other teams from thinking they, too, could tinker with their lineup a little bit and win the Super Bowl next year?

I'll give you some first-weekend thoughts in a moment, as well as a rundown of why the Browns did what they did. But as I try to digest the first three days, I want to caution you about what this all means. A year from now, if you care to do so, look back on the first weekend of 2008 free agency and think: What was all the fuss about? Case in point, think back to last year. On the first weekend, the big stories were about:

• The 49ers rebuilding their secondary by signing cornerback Nate Clements and safety Michael Lewis. San Francisco went from a defense that allowed 3,571 passing yards in 2006 to one that allowed 3,643 in 2007. Not a great weekend.

The Patriots made two big moves -- signing linebacker Adalius Thomas and trading for wideout Wes Welker. Thomas was OK, but wasn't the versatile rusher they thought he'd be. Welker was spectacular, catching 139 passes in New England's 18-1 season while being the security blanket Tom Brady never had. A good but not smashing weekend.

• The Bills signed a new offensive line -- Derrick Dockery and Langston Walker -- before drafting a new mega-back, Marshawn Lynch. The result: Buffalo finished 30th in scoring (15.8 points per game), 30th in total offense (277.1 yards per game) and 15th in rushing (112.5 yards per game).

In other words, buyer beware.

[mngolf19]

What all this says is, it's a crapshoot. It could help, it may not. Just like guessing who will win next year. And no the Vikes are not on this list every year. McCombs didn't spend diddly on players and they weren't on the list last year. Let's be honest now.