The first few days of NFL free agency are a jumble of names, rumors, and fan delusion (mostly the fan delusion). No matter how many times we see a team win a Super Bowl on the back of solid drafting and player development, early March always becomes a time when the next big name is going to put that offseason champion over the top. After a week or so, the big prizes are gone, and attention turns to the next set of saviors — that year’s crop of first-round picks.
Moves that go down in May never come with the same fanfare, but especially with the current salary-cap landscape in the NFL (with player salaries outpacing the cap), there are still bargains to be had. There are still more than a handful of players out there who can make a difference for a team, this year and beyond, and to help sift through them, we put together what we hope is a helpful primer.
Eric Winston
2012 team: Kansas City Chiefs
Winston was the most notable casualty during the regime change in Kansas City (aside from Matt Cassel, I guess, but c’mon). He signed a four-year, $22 million deal with the Chiefs last offseason after being cut by the Texans, but with John Dorsey and Andy Reid coming to town and two franchise left tackles sitting there with the no. 1 pick, Winston was shown the door. Kansas City seems to have a better plan in place than Houston did a year ago. The right side of the Texans’ offensive line was a shuffling mess last season without their former right tackle, but now that the Branden Albert trade with Miami has fallen through, Kansas City will likely have no. 1 pick Eric Fisher on the left side and the franchised Albert on the right.
The modern NFL is a game of matchups. Since the salary cap and the spread of strategic concepts throughout the league prevent a team from dominating the way that the 1980s Niners or the early-'90s Cowboys did, just about every team in football has one or two weaknesses that can be exploited by a well-timed opponent. That doesn't necessarily mean that the team in question will lose to that otherwise-inferior opposition because the matchup is poor, just as a team with a weakness being exploited by the opponent can still win by pressing its advantage in other areas. But a team that's a bad fit for a specific superior opposition can have a higher chance of causing an upset if they find some weakness ready to be manipulated and attacked.
That is precisely where it pays to look at this year's upcoming playoffs. With three teams assured of at least one home playoff game in the AFC, and three teams guaranteed a playoff berth (with two guaranteed a likely home playoff game) in the NFC, it's useful to look ahead and identify the possible bad matchups for those teams. Obviously, a great team is always going to be the toughest matchup for another dominant squad, but I'm thinking more about the still-competing playoff contenders and whether there's a team that each member of the league's royalty would prefer were sitting out this January.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
The Lakers came back from an 18-point third quarter deficit to top the Bobcats, 101-100, and avoid what would have been the most embarrassing moment of their already difficult season. It was a Pyrrhic victory for some Lakers, including Pau Gasol, who suffered his latest humiliation when Kobe Bryant shoved him into the scorer's table to create a distraction just before hitting the winning bucket. "Make sure you whimper," Kobe hissed. "Really Gasol it up."
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue vacated the bounty-related suspensions of four Saints players, in effect saying that despite any wrongdoing on their part, the team's coaches were responsible as the leaders of the organization. In a desperate move, Sean Payton retroactively named Jonathan Vilma head coach of the Saints, and demoted himself to kicker.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
No. 13 Stanford stymied no. 2 Oregon's vaunted offense and all but ended the Ducks' national title hopes with a 17-14 overtime upset. In what can only be called a copycat crime, an enraged Oregon fan used pesticide in an attempt to poison the famous Stanford tree, and was undeterred when the tree kept yelling "I'm a person! I'm a mascot!"
Pretty much every morning, About Last Night provides you with the essential sports headlines that you need to know. This is not one of those mornings.
The Spurs defeated the Lakers last night, 84-82. This was the first and final appearance of Pau Gasol Hero Ball. Gasol missed a corner 3 to win the game. Lakers fans were their usual measured selves following the defeat:
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Monday.
Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons intercepted Chiefs QB Matt Cassel in overtime to set up a game-winning field goal in a 16-13 win, but Pittsburgh lost Ben Roethlisberger with a sprained shoulder in the third quarter. "I feel like we're getting really, really close," said Chiefs head coach Romeo Crennel, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes at the press conference. "So close now. Come on. Ahhhhhhh! Yes. Wow. Done. Sorry, I had to fart. What was the question?"
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
Facing a hostile road crowd, AJ McCarron led no. 1 Alabama on a game-winning drive, completing the winning touchdown pass with 51 seconds remaining as the Tide beat no. 5 LSU 21-17. McCarron said he was motivated by school pride, the desire to win a national championship, and the pulsing pain emanating from the remote-activated chip implanted in his skull by Nick Saban.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Thursday.
Tony Parker hit a jump shot at the buzzer to give the Spurs an 86-84 win over the Thunder in the season opener for both teams. Thunder star James Harden was noticeably quiet on the night, scoring zero points in limited action.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Tuesday.
Justin Verlander pitched 8.1 strong innings, allowing just one run and three hits, as the Tigers beat the Yankees 2-1 to take a 3-0 lead in the ALCS. "Our pitchers really let us down by allowing two runs," said benched slugger Nick Swisher, attempting to change the narrative of the massive Yankee failure. "You're not going to win a game when your pitchers give up two runs. Dicks."
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports on Thursday.
Justin Verlander tossed a complete-game shutout, striking out 11 and allowing four hits as the Tigers beat the A's 6-0 in Game 5 to advance to the ALCS. After the game, the low-budget A's could be heard marveling at the "pitcher from the big city." "He stood round 'bouts seven-foot high!" hollered Coco Crisp. "Threw damn near 200 miles an hour!" hooted Stephen Drew. "Man's arm jest about touched yer cap when he reached out and throwed," howled Brandon Moss. "Most men take just a speck ah chaw up on that picher's hill," yelped general manager Billy Beane, "but damned if ole Verlander warn't holdin' an entire tobacky stalk and swallerin' it jes like a baby carrot!"
The Tennessee Titans have been outscored 88-181 through five weeks, which means they're giving up an astonishing 36.2 points per game. They're on pace to break Baltimore's 1981 record of points allowed for a single season (551). Their opponents are averaging nearly 425 yards of offense per game, and opposing quarterbacks have a gaudy 112.4 QB rating against them. They've recorded 81 first downs and given up 129. All four Titans losses were by 20 points or more. In their only win (a 44-41 overtime thriller over the Lions), they scored a record four touchdowns of 60 yards or more, including a backward pass on a punt, a kick return, an interception in which the defender pulled the ball away from the receiver, and a TD catch in which the receiver reached three feet down over a d-back in mid-air and somehow caught the ball, kept his balance and kept running. They don't have a QB on pace for 2,500 yards passing, nor do they have a running back on pace for 700 yards rushing or a receiver on pace for 900 yards receiving. Their best player (Chris Johnson) is rushing for 2.9 yards per carry, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of fantasy teams across America yet again, and might be waiting tables at Vince Young's Steakhouse within the next two months. Their only explosive offensive player (Kenny Britt) still isn't healthy enough to play. Their coach (Mike Munchak) has been under fire for refusing to bench Johnson or shake up his coaching staff. Their offensive coordinator is the always-embattled Chris Palmer, who couldn't handle calling the plays for a vigorous game of Madden at this point. Even advanced metrics hates the Titans: Football Outsiders ranks them 32nd in DVOA with a rating of negative 40.7, among the lowest numbers ever measured if that holds up. With the Steelers coming to Tennessee tonight, it's hard to think of a single reason to grab the Titans and seven points.
The Titans are trailing by 25 points, deep in the third quarter, when they score a touchdown. The extra point is converted, the onside kick is well-executed, and the opposing team flubs the catch. Players fling themselves at the loose ball from all directions, and it is quickly lost under a pile of bodies. Two referees arrive on the scene, take a moment to sort through the melee, stand up, and point in opposite directions. The referee who had originally signaled against Tennessee realizes that there is dissent in the zebra ranks, and swiftly defers to his colleague, swapping arms to rule in favor of the Titans. Unfortunately, his colleague’s desire for conformity is just as strong, and as one right arm falls, another rises, and once again, the two officials point in opposite directions. The pair of them look less like referees and more like a novelty two-man dance troupe on America’s Got Talent, possibly called “Flip-Flop, Don’t Stop”.
In case you were out living a life of leisure, here's what you missed in sports over the weekend.
Peyton Manning threw his first two touchdowns as a Bronco, and the 400th and 401st of his career, in a 31-19 victory over the Steelers. After the game, Peyton received a phone call from someone with a high-pitched voice saying, "Ooooh, mister, you look so sexy in orange. You are like a big stupid carrot." Peyton's face clouded over. "Cut it out, Eli, you little dingus, or I'll tell dad!" he screamed, drawing stares from his teammates.
Rams trade Jason Smith, provide Brian Schottenheimer with the devil he knows
It doesn’t come as a surprise, but Jason Smith’s time in St. Louis is finally over. The Rams reportedly agreed last night to send the former no. 2 overall pick to the Jets in exchange for similarly maligned tackle Wayne Hunter. The move gives new Rams (and former Jets) offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer a familiar face for his swing tackle, but it also marks the failure of yet another draft pick for the Rams.
Smith is the second first-rounder from the 2009 draft traded in as many days, with Vontae Davis being the other. That year was former general manager Billy Devaney’s first with the team, and a year after the Dolphins took Jake Long and saw an immediate turnaround, the Rams hoped to establish a bookend on their offensive line as well. Coming out of Baylor, Smith was a converted tight end who was supposed to have the feet and frame to develop into a stalwart left tackle for the next decade. A mix of injuries and poor play was enough to keep that from happening, and it soon became clear that 2010 second-round pick Rodger Saffold, and not Smith, would get the chance to be St. Louis’s left tackle of the future.
