On March 10, the NFL opened up free agency to all 32 teams, allowing them to start their hunt to find the missing piece or pieces to help their teams this September when the new season kicks off.
Players leave and sign with teams for many reasons other than money (that’s a joke). Usually, if not always, it is about the Benjamins. This offseason we have seen players take pay cuts to stay with their team and other players leave for max cash for a team worse off than the one they were with before. Just ask tight end Julius Thomas who left Hall of Fame quarterback Payton Manning for the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2007.
Here are a few teams I think made the best offseason acquisitions in free agency that helped improve their teams’ status or maintained their status to remain playoff contenders.
New York Jets: The Jets were busy this offseason signing cornerback Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie to multi-year contracts. They also traded for big-name wide receiver Brandon Marshall to help that pathetic offense. They still have to do something about Geno Smith at quarterback, though. The Jets made improvements as soon as they hired former Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator, Todd Bowles, to be the team’s head coach. Too bad they couldn’t have been this busy during the season; they might have of won more games.
Indianapolis Colts: The Colts lost long-time receiver Reggie Wayne, but reacted quickly by signing veteran wide-out Adrian Johnson. The Colts also released running back Trent Richardson who has been a big disappointment, and picked up another veteran in running back Frank Gore. The Colts dropped some baggage and picked up durable veterans to help make this team a competitive force with young gun Andrew Luck at quarterback.
Buffalo Bills: This team is scary. The Bills came out with a plan to get playmakers on their team, specifically offense, and that is exactly what they did when they signed shifty running back LeSean McCoy, receiver Percy Harvin and tight end Charles Clay. With the upgrades on offense and that fast and powerful defense, this team looks to challenge the Patriots in the AFC East conference come September.
Other winners include the Seahawks, Packers, Cardinals and Dolphins.
These teams went out and won this offseason, but some teams overslept and decided to skip out by either signing no one or signing garbage. I do not want to waste much space for these losers, so here they are: the Bears (because Jay Cutler is still their quarterback), Browns, Lions, Buccaneers and Raiders (who did absolutely nothing).
