 |
| Wednesday, June 4 Updated: June 10, 3:57 PM ET Linebackers have become more sought after, wealthy By John Clayton ESPN.com |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
The free agency period never ceases in the NFL. Players are signed virtually every day of the calendar year, and general managers never stop the pursuit of talent. Free agency is free flowing. Still, June is a time of reflection rather than a transitional period in the free agency cycle. Statistically, the NFL no longer counts the loss or signing of unrestricted free agencs after June 1 when it begins the mysterious compensatory draft choice tabulations. So, the movement of 111 unrestricted free agents to new teams was the fourth most in the 11 years of free agency, and with the exceptions of Bills, Falcons, Vikings and maybe the Redskins, major adjustments weren't made in the league's power elite.
The top 24 unrestrictred free agent linebackers locked up more than $251 million in multi-year contracts. Excluding Urlacher, 13 other linebackers received contract extensions worth $154 million. Throw in the Urlacher deal and the 38 linebackers from this year could pool their $400 million of resources to secure a loan worth enough to come close to Red McCombs' $500-plus million price tag on the Vikings. For whatever reason, linebackers were the franchise players in this year's free agency class. Explanations can range from the simple fact that the class of linebackers was better and deeper than most of the other positions to it just being a matter of a lot of good LBs all hitting free agency at the right time. Still, as coaches and players go through their June minicamps and sneak to the beach for rest, let's reflect on what happened. The curious thing about the timing of this $400 million linebacking windfall is that it comes at a bad time for the positions. In many ways, linebackers are somewhat devalued as far as playing time. More teams are using three- and four-receiver sets. It got to a point last season in which nickel and dime defenses -- schemes with five and six defensive backs -- were on the field for two thirds of the defensive plays. Those run-stopping linebackers in the 4-3 schemes were going the way of fullbacks, getting one or two plays at best in a three-down set. Financially, teams started to make plans to pay linebackers in two categories -- the every-down linebacker who has enough speed and range to play on running and passing downs versus the run-stopping linebackers who were on the field when offenses were in two-receiver or two-tight end sets. Despite that two-tiered concept, NFL teams reshuffled the decks for the league's 101 starting linebackers. In the end, linebackers became financial power brokers.
Money aside, the interesting aspect about this spending spree is it may determine teams that have the edge or have lost the edge on defense going into this season. Defenses are coming off their worst pounding in years. Scoring in games jumped from 40.4 to 43.3. Defenses surrendered 21 yards a game more than in 2001, including 13 yards a game through the air. Quarterbacks completed an almost unprecedented 59.64 percent of passes in what was one of the most active passing years in NFL history. So it came as no surprise that the biggest spenders for new linebackers were the Bills, Chiefs, Patriots, Jaguars and Bengals. None of those teams ranked higher than 15th in overall defense or higher than 22nd against the run. Changes were needed. The Bills signed Takeo Spikes and Jeff Posey to flank last year's free agent prize London Fletcher in their 4-3. The Chiefs stole Shawn Barber from the Eagles at the cost of $30 million for seven years. Mike Peterson jumped from Indianapolis to divisional-rival Jacksonville on a six-year, $20 deal to work on the other side of Keith Mitchell. Kevin Hardy, who signed a four-year. $14.4 million, took the open starting job in Cincinnati when Spikes went to Buffalo. The Patriots signed Bears sackmaster Rosevelt Colvin to bring extra juice to the Patriots 3-4.
Those five teams should be improved. Another interesting aspect of the musical chairs at linebacker is how a couple of teams readjusted good defenses. Will the Eagles, who ranked fourth on defense last year, be better or worse on defense now that Wayne and former Falcon Mark Simoneau are taking over for Barber and Levon Kirkland? The Dolphins, who ranked third defensively, brought in Junior Seau to replace Derrick Rodgers, who was traded to New Orleans, and then drafted Eddie Moore in the second round to challenge Morlon Greenwood for the other outside linebacking job. Three teams gambled by not dabbling into the linebacker market. The Seahawks ranked last against the run, but they couldn't find the right veteran middle linebacker to place between Chad Brown and Anthony Simmons so they will go young again in the middle. The Bears hope that Bryan Knight can fill in for Colvin and that Urlacher can make up some of the lost sacks by going on the defensive line on some passing downs. The Bears ranked 25th on defense last year despite having Colvin. The Colts couldn't afford to keep Peterson and hope that David Thornton or veteran Jim Nelson can handle the job. Perhaps the biggest gamble of the offseason involved Butch Davis of the Browns. The Browns made the playoffs but Davis sacked his top four linebackers -- Jamir Miller, Dwayne Rudd, Earl Holmes and Darren Hambrick. The Browns hope that last year's draft class of Ben Taylor, Andra Davis and Kevin Bentley can handle the job. Former Eagle Barry Gardner and second-round choice Chaun Thompson are the only other options. Years ago, the Cowboys and Raiders rarely paid linebackers more than $1 million a year. Those days are distant memories as the two teams now have at least a couple of players making more than $1.5 million. While the trend had been gradually taking shape, this was the offseason when linebackers blitzed the bank and took away the money in sacks. John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com. |
| ||||||||||||||||||
