If the Bears don’t pick up at least three starters during the free-agent period that begins Wednesday, they will be defying the pattern of every Super Bowl team since 2000.
While the 2001 and 2003 champion New England Patriots have made it clear that signing the biggest names for the biggest bucks is not the answer, changing starters through free agency remains a staple of winners.
Every Super Bowl participant this decade added more free-agent starters the season they made it to the Super Bowl than the Bears did in the same seasons.
The Patriots and Carolina Panthers each added three starters through free agency last off-season. New England’s Rodney Harrison, Tyrone Poole and Larry Centers and Carolina’s Jake Delhomme, Stephen Davis and Greg Favors all started in the Super Bowl. The Bears signed only two new veteran starters in their off-season: tight end Desmond Clark and quarterback Kordell Stewart.
The Patriots also traded for Ted Washington and signed Rosevelt Colvin from the Bears. Colvin was hurt and missed the Super Bowl run.
Tampa Bay and St. Louis, former teams of Bears new coach Lovie Smith, both have been more active in free agency than the Bears.
The 2002 champion Bucs added six Super Bowl starters through free agency that season–Roman Oben, Kerry Jenkins, Ken Dilger, Keenan McCardell, Michael Pittman and Greg Spires. The runner-up Oakland Raiders had four new free-agent signees in their lineup.
The same year, the Bears added zero starters through free agency in the first full off-season under general manager Jerry Angelo. They were coming off a 13-3 year and stood pat.
The 2001 Rams, who lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots, signed four free-agent starters that year and added a fifth by trade, cornerback Aeneas Williams, in Smith’s first season as St. Louis’ defensive coordinator. The Patriots had signed four free agent starters that year, the Bears only two–defensive tackles Washington and Keith Traylor.
The 2000 Baltimore Ravens had four free-agent starters in their Super Bowl-winning lineup. The runner-up New York Giants had five. The Bears signed two that year, Phillip Daniels and Thomas Smith, and added two starters via trades, Eddie Kennison and R.W. McQuarters.
Before winning it all in the 2001 season, the Patriots signed free agents Antowain Smith, Mike Compton, Anthony Pleasant and Marc Edwards. They all started in the Super Bowl, although they have to carry around the lineup card to prove it because they are hardly household names.
The Pats recently released Smith, whose two Super Bowl rings constitute the bulk of his market value.
“They’re just competitive, clutch, veteran players. Very few big names,” Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi said. “[The Patriots] made tremendous talent judgments, and then they’ve coached the heck out of them. They’ve done a great job.”
After winning two Super Bowls in his three seasons in New England, Smith could be justified for having an inflated opinion of his worth. To keep him might have cost more than the Patriots are willing to budget for a role player who shared the job with another free agent, Kevin Faulk.
Changing starters isn’t about adding more stars or about changing for the sake of change; it’s about deciding exactly what kind of players fit both the coach’s system and the accountant’s bottom line. The best teams are able to improve the bottom of the roster and the starting lineup without squeezing the top.
“We don’t concern ourselves with the model for the league,” said Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli. “Our model is the right thing for us because we believe you have to build an organization that fits the attitudes and personalities and philosophies of the people in the leadership group. Our leadership group believes there’s no one person bigger than the team.”
The biggest signing on the eve of free agency was by Indianapolis, which kept quarterback Peyton Manning for a $98 million, seven-year contract that includes an NFL record $34.5 million signing bonus.
The deal drops the NFL co-MVP’s salary-cap number to $8.3 million, saving the team more than $10 million and giving the Colts more flexibility to sign players. They already effectively had removed Manning from the open market by placing a “franchise” tag on him, but the salary cap hit would have been $18.3 million and the Colts already had started to release players to make room.
“I’m happy to be a Colt for life,” Manning said Tuesday. “Everybody’s happy, and like I said, I’m just relieved it’s over with.”
Owner Jim Irsay said: “There was a lot of pressure because we’re getting close to the Super Bowl. If you don’t get it done, we’re going in a dramatically different direction, and our chances are reduced.
“As a team owner, you either look at dismantling the franchise and being a businessman or saying you want to win and write the check. I feel when you have the components in place, you definitely swallow hard. But Peyton is a great player and he deserves it.”
After his new contract a year ago, Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher will count $5.8 million against this season’s salary cap. Bears President Ted Phillips said additional revenue from the new Soldier Field has catapulted the team from “28th or 29th” in the league in total receipts up to “about 14th.”
Like every other team benefiting from a new stadium, this should provide additional cash for signing bonuses.
Franchise players
A club can designate one franchise player or one transition player in any given year.
FRANCHISE POS. CLUB
Champ Bailey CB Washington
Chad Clifton T Green Bay
Donovin Darius S Jacksonville
Darren Howard DE New Orleans
Walter Jones T Seattle
Peyton Manning-a QB Indianapolis
Chris McAlister CB Baltimore
Orlando Pace T St. Louis
Julian Peterson-a LB San Fran.
Charles Woodson-a CB Oakland
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TRANSITION POS. CLUB
John Tait T Kansas City
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a–exclusive
Note: Salary level offer by a player’s old club determines type of franchise player. An “exclusive” franchise player–not free to sign with another club–is offered a minimum of the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position as of April 16, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. If a player is offered that, he becomes a “non-exclusive” franchise player and can negotiate with other clubs and his old club can match a new club’s offer or receive two first-round draft choices if it decides not to match. The signing period for non-exclusive franchise players to sign with new clubs is March 3 through Nov. 9 (10th week of the season). A transition player has received a minimum offer of the average of the top 10 salaries of last season at the player’s position or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. A transition player designation gives the club a first-refusal right to match within seven days an offer sheet given to the player by another club after his contract expires. If the club matches, it retains the player. If it does not match, it receives no compensation. Transition players can be signed from March 3 through July 22.
TOP UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS BY POSITION
Quarterbacks
Billy Volek, Tennessee
Shaun King, Tampa Bay
Jeff Garcia, San Francisco
Running backs
Charlie Garner, Oakland
Duce Staley, Philadelphia
Thomas Jones, Tampa Bay
Kevin Faulk, New England
Antowain Smith, New Eng.
Wide receivers
Darrell Jackson, Seattle
Tai Streets, San Francisco
Ron Dixon, Giants
Tight ends
Erron Kinney, Tennessee
Kris Mangum, Carolina
Jed Weaver, San Francisco
Guards
Chris Villarial, BEARS
Jeno James, Carolina
Kelvin Garmon, San Diego
Travis Claridge, Atlanta
Matt Stinchcomb, Oakland
Lennie Friedman, Wash.
Cosey Coleman, Tampa Bay
Tackles
Damion McIntosh, S. Diego
Lewis Kelly, Minnesota
Spencer Folau, New Orl.
Todd Wade, Miami
Centers
Damien Woody, New Eng.
Chris Bober, Giants
Todd McClure, Atlanta
Defensive ends
Jevon Kearse, Tennessee
Grant Wistrom, St. Louis
Bert Berry, Denver
Ebenezer Ekuban, Dallas
James Hall, Detroit
Eric Hicks, Kansas City
Al Wallace, Carolina
Tyrone Rogers, Cleveland
Defensive tackles
Warren Sapp, Tampa Bay
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Robaire Smith, Tennessee
Keith Traylor, BEARS
Ted Washington, New Eng.
Brian Young, St. Louis
Cornelius Griffin, Giants
Linebackers
Carlos Emmons, Phila.
Greg Favors, Carolina
Ian Gold, Denver
Barrett Green, Detroit
Dhani Jones, Giants
Brandon Short, Giants
Marcus Washington, Ind.
Cornerbacks
Antoine Winfield, Buffalo
Mario Edwards, Dallas
David Macklin, Ind.
Ahmed Plummer, San Fran.
Shawn Springs, Seattle
Bobby Taylor, Philadelphia
Troy Vincent, Philadelphia
David Barrett, Arizona
Juran Bolden, Atlanta
Safeties
Rogers Beckett, Cincinnati
Deon Grant, Carolina
Antuan Edwards, G. Bay
Reggie Tongue, Seattle