By Flint Wheeler
Baseball is America’s favorite pastime, but the National Football League is the American sports fan’s obsession. If you needed any reminder or reinforcement of that notion, it came last week during the start of NFL free agency, when rampant rumors became actual roster renovation.
Former Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis got p-a-i-d by the J-E-T-S. Ndamukong Suh got the richest contract ever given to a defensive player, courtesy of the Miami Dolphins (six years, $114.375 million, with $59.95 million in guarantees). But the biggest winner in NFL free agency was . . . the NFL.
Oh ya, The Pederson child abuse thing. And Rice, the guy that knocked out his wife ON CAMERA! Poof! Gone from the public eye. Nothing can stop from gorging on the NFL’s product. Anyone remember Deflategate?
The new league year has been particularly entertaining with the salary cap raised to $143.28 million. It was $123 million two years ago.
The National Football League Players Association tweeted that in the first three days of free agency 85 player contracts were filed worth more than $1.3 billion. (NFL contracts aren’t fully guaranteed, but the guaranteed money awarded was more than $589 million.)
Trades are usually more of a baseball thing, but there have been some fascinating deals.
The Philadelphia Eagles swapped 2013 NFL rushing champion LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso. Pumped and jacked, Pete Carroll dealt two-time Pro Bowl center Max Unger and Seattle’s first-round pick to the New Orleans Saints for All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham. The Eagles and Rams exchanged starting quarterbacks, with St. Louis sending fragile former No. 1 pick Sam Bradford to Philly for Nick Foles.
Other big names who have been dealt are Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata (to Detroit), Miami speedster Mike Wallace (to Minnesota), and Bears wideout Brandon Marshall (to the Jets).
Locally, the focus was on the Revis intrigue. After he helped the Patriots win their first Super Bowl since the 2004 season, the team did what teams rarely do to Revis — pass on him. Revis reunited with the Jets via a five-year, $70 million deal that includes $48 million in the first three years and $39 million guaranteed.
Revis’s fate and then his departure have dominated the sports talk radio airwaves in these parts.
Nationally, the newsmaker has been New Hampshire native and Eagles coach Chip Kelly. Granted plenipotentiary football authority, Kelly has given the Eagles roster an extreme makeover.
It’s hard to tell if Kelly, one of football’s more innovative and perceptive minds, is ahead of the curve or in over his head.
The Eagles have spent money like a Beverly Hills housewife regarding their roster. Curiously, in a league where running backs are becoming devalued Kelly signed two in free agency. He inked Ryan Mathews to a three-year, $11.5 million deal and then signed DeMarco Murray away from the rival Cowboys with a five-year, $40 million contract.
It’s like Chip is playing fantasy football. That fantasy includes Byron Maxwell, who got a six-year, $63 million deal, going from Richard Sherman’s sidekick in Seattle to No. 1 corner.
Flush with cap space, the Jets not only signed Revis but lavished deals on cornerbacks Antonio Cromartie and Buster Skrine.
Miami also signed tight end Jordan Cameron and traded for wide receiver Kenny Stills. The Bills added enigmatic wide receiver Percy Harvin and traded for former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, whose last game as a Patriot came in Buffalo in 2008.
The Patriots have not partaken in the feeding frenzy like their rivals, but Bill Belichick has made a pair of shrewd signings, bringing in pass rusher Jabaal Sheard and tight end Scott Chandler.
There is still a lot of offseason left. But there is always a rush to anoint winners and losers in free agency.
The NFL has already won the offseason.
It’s dominating the headlines and keeping its dirty laundry out of them.
As teams gain new players, the NFL remains the league that can’t lose.
FlintWheeler.com – Founder of Silex Strategies L.L.C. providing sales and consulting in Insurance, Retirement, Real Estate and Taxes through A.I.G./Valic. PGA Class A Member and T.P.I. Certified Golf Trainer. Host of “The Tilted Sports Radio Show” on Fox Sports 1270 from 3-7pm on Thursdays, Live from The Kilt. Contact at 760-409-4612
