NFL Free Agency Isn't 'Bad,' But Signing Mediocre Players To Long-Term Deals Is

I don’t see many options out there now that Donte Whitner is a Bengal. The idea of adding more depth across the OL or a backup to Bullitt would be nice. Yet, I figure the best management of the money would be to lock Mathis up for 3-4 more years. Next year we’ll have a lot of free agents again (Wayne, Gonzo, and Garcon in wide-outs alone), considering all this maybe the best option being to spend from within.

Lol.

i do find it interesting looking back that all the guys were signed back them were former polian signings

It’s been a long time since I weighed in and I think now is as good a time as any. For starters,Shawn King was not a Bill Polian selection in Carolina. His ties were to Tony Dungy and the bucs. Tony met him at the senior bowl while HC of the bucs and took him in the 2nd round. Tony loved how well he took care of the ball especially during his senior season. King set a NCAA record for attempts without an int while at Tulane. So I believe it was Dungy not Polian that probably brought him to Indy.

Second, we really shouldn’t be excited over the recent fa signings that the colts have brought in. Think for a second, when is the last time the Polians brought in a game changing fa? What happened to the last fa lb and de? In fact, I would argue that Ernie Sims is Buster Davis (lb) 2.0 and Jamaal Anderson is Simeon Rice 2.0. Why? Well Buster was a 3rd round pick that was highly touted, bounced from SD to Det and basically couldn’t make the roster. He was undersized, reckless and out of position with no cerebral approach to the game. Anyone remember the playoff game in SD? Now enter Sims. Eagles and Lions fans are elated to have this clown off their team because he is always out of position, easily blocked and he guesses wrong way too much. He’s another liability that jeopardizes your defensive scheme…our scheme
 
Anderson vs. Rice….yeah you can make the argument that 1 is over the hill and the other is a bust but in the end you get the exact same thing. Nothing much. Neither can do what they were originally drafted to do and neither was highly sought after once the book was written. Now I like this pickup over buster..I mean Sims (whatever). However, common perception is the risk is low and the ceiling is high so we it represents a big upside. News flash: nothing is further from the truth. In other words they are what they are and the colts won’t look smart for playing it safe but rather timid and inept for not daring to be great. Give the Eagles credit for daring to be great. The fact is the Polians just don’t understand how to properly evaluate and approach the mkt and therefore justify there position not to get heavily involved because of their lack of understanding. I do believe that you must be selective and enter with some measure of caution but damn! Do we really think that Philly is the only place where lots of players want to play in bc of the qb and a championship feel? Are you telling me that these same players wouldn’t take less $ to play with Manning, Freeney and Mathis and have a chance to win a sb in your home stadium? What am I missing here?

Today’s free agency has changed where the players have the balance of power. You can grab once coveted players in today’s market after 4 yrs of service where in years past only the oft injured, indesirebles and aged were available. But don’t tell that to the colts. They will have to SEE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE 1st before they buy in totally and even then they will go after the wrong players at the wrong position with the wrong numbers. This is why the colts are unfortunately capped. It is the linear thinking of the Polians and Irsay. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my team but it is what it is. We must stay healthy to have a shot and even then, I have concerns whether we’re good enough to pull off another SB in the Manning era. I really wished Manning had made specific demands to have specific players signed at specific positions like DT, S and RB as a condition to him signing. Unfortunately, that puts way too much on him and makes him come off as a diva. The problem is the Polians can’t see that this is their job. Only when Manning’s greatness is removed will it become obvious to them. I hate it for Peyton and the fans because we all deserve more. Believe me I would love to be wrong but when you hear a quack and see a waddle, you don’t call it a dog.

Shawn King was a d lineman not the qb I made reference too.

Polian is deceptive, secretive, ornery, arrogant, and frustrating. But I trust him with this team.
I feel like some people who look at Polian’s record and decry it would look at a .325 hitter in baseball and complain he only hits the ball a third of the time. I think there is a lack of appreciation for the difficulty of the job, where a good percentage for all decisions is probably somewhere between 60-70% correct, much like a cornerback is successful if he outplays his receiver 55% of the time. The other GMs get paid too, and they’re all backed by egoistic millionaires and impatient fans. The best attempt at judging talent, predicting chemistry, gameplanning, balancing the checkbook, and appeasing the fan can all be scuttled by the vicissitudes of the game’s human nature (effort/morale/misbehavior/early retirement) and sheer randomness (injury, that queer-shaped ball).

If the NFL were a strictly level probability game, you’d expect to get to the SB every 16 years on average and win it every 32. Getting to one a decade and winning one every generation would mark a good GM. Getting to two and tasting success within your first dozen years on the job has to at least rate as very good — especially if you have top-flight organizations like Steelers and Patriots as yearly obstacles, since the NFC has no comparable organizations (Packers are close. No, sorry, Eagles and Cowboys). Do I want more? Sure, but I wouldn’t watch a league where a team could dominate effortlessly.

I think what BBS has given us in his retrospective of Polian’s early years here is a reminder of how difficult the transition was. But the city now has a football culture, largely as a result of Polian, who had brought success to such equally-small markets as Buffalo and Carolina. If anything BBS’s article reminds us why Polian is more cautious in free agency at start of this decade than back at the turn of the century. Many people are calling for a damn-the-expense millenarian effort this year — just because we host the SB, perhaps because Peyton is 12 months older — but i think the Irsays and Polians and Mannings all plan on taking a few more spins on the SB roulette wheel, not betting all on Blue ‘12. I applaud this approach, because I’m going to be rooting for the Colts the year after Manning retires, and I want us to stay competitive, not Eagle-dive for some future cap hell.