Playoff teams and free agent spending

[KB_fan]

The Monday Morning Hangover at B/R was interesting today for a section about how the 12 playoff teams generally were among the teams who spent little to acquire big name free agents.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2604702-monday-morning-hangover-playoff-teams-prove-its-best-to-spend-smart-not-big

Here are some excerpts...

 

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[Among the playoff teams] you will see a lot of different types of players, units, coaches and teams. But you know what you will see very, very few of? Splashy, sexy, big-name, big-money offseason acquisitions. This year's playoff teams all have one thing in common: Their home-brewed, carefully developed rosters feature very few players who took part in the "Great 2015 Free-Agent Feeding Frenzy."  [...]

Let's run down the playoff list (in seeding order, starting with NFC teams) to see just how few of the free agents we drooled over in March still have games to prepare for after Week 17.

The Panthers have barely touched the free-agent market for several seasons, even at positions (wide receiver) where a little spending might have gone a long way. Ted Ginn Jr., a career backup receiver and return man, was their big signing of the offseason.

The Broncos made their share of splashy moves in the past (signing Peyton Manning, for instance), but their biggest moves for this season were on the coaching staff, not the field. The core of their roster has been in place for several seasons.

While the Cardinals have acquired their fair share of free agents in recent years and signed guard Mike Iupati to a sizable offseason contract, most of their veteran acquisitions (Carson Palmer, Chris Johnson, Dwight Freeney) arrived at bargain-basement prices. The Cardinals are built on drafting and tag-popping, not spending.

Most of the Patriots' free-agent action in the offseason involved re-signing incumbents such as Devin McCourty and Stephen Gostkowski. Their splashiest acquisition was Jabaal Sheard—a pass-rusher from the Browns.

The Vikings are built from the stockpile of first-round picks they obtained in recent years. The biggest player they acquired in 2015 was Mike Wallace, who is like the remote-control race car your kids got for Christmas, drove straight down the driveway into a gutter and then forgot about.

The Bengals are well-known in recent years for valuing roster stability. Nearly all of their significant players were drafted into the organization.

[...]

 

 

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Let's come at this issue another way.

Here's an NFL.com list of the top free agents available at the end of last February. It's a great list for our purposes because it excludes players who were franchise-tagged or were re-signed by their own teams. The only free agents among the top 10 who ended up on playoff rosters are Maclin and Iupati.

Expand the list to the top 25 and you find that Terrance Knighton (Redskins), Sheard (Patriots) and Chris Culliver (Redskins) are the only other top free agents to change teams and reach the playoffs.

Expand the NFL.com list to the top 50 and you will catch some players like Cecil Shorts III (Texans) and Stephen Paea (Redskins again) in the dragnet, but not many. Factor in big names who got traded such as Graham, Sam Bradford and Nick Foles and you will still come up empty except for some veteran role players like Jared Allen.

[...]

 

 

(emphasis added below)
 

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But this year's playoff field, coupled with the failed experiments in Philly and elsewhere, proves once again there is no substitute for drafting, sifting the waiver wire for low-cost talent, developing practice-squad players and excelling at the succession game: preparing this year's mid-round pick to replace next year's veteran who is about to get too much attention on the free-agent market.

The Patriots, Packers and Steelers have built rosters the home-cooked way for years, with the Patriots blending in some of their patented trash-to-treasure free agents. The Panthers, Bengals and Vikings have been laying the groundwork for their current teams over the course of several draft classes.

 

 

[motocross_cat]

I feel like the broncos have brought in many big names over the past few years.  Manning, ware, sanders, talib and so on.  

 

[tondi]

Yet the same teams will get the same winners/losers label once the free agency period ends this offseason.  For some reason, overspending on a guy who is famous is considered some kind of wonderful thing by the sports media and many fans, while doing what the majority of successful teams do and home growing your own talent while refusing to overpay based on reputation gets your competence or commitment to winning questioned. 

[UKPanther94]

1 minute ago, tondi said:

Yet the same teams will get the same winners/losers label once the free agency period ends this offseason.  

Bleacher report listed the Colts and the Dolphins as the winners of the free agency back in March, enough said really

[UpstatePanther]

2 hours ago, tondi said:

Yet the same teams will get the same winners/losers label once the free agency period ends this offseason.  For some reason, overspending on a guy who is famous is considered some kind of wonderful thing by the sports media and many fans, while doing what the majority of successful teams do and home growing your own talent while refusing to overpay based on reputation gets your competence or commitment to winning questioned. 

Unless you're Green Bay or maybe New England. Then they call you a genius for sticking with your talent. #bigmarketbias