The Sports Curmudgeon

The NFL Free Agent Season is about to happen. Coming on the heels of the hugely over-hyped and largely meaningless NFL Scouting Combine, the Free Agent Season represents the time of year when fanboys of all teams can race to their keyboards and knock out mock-drafts and recommend free agent signings and propose trades wherein their team gets three All-Pro players in exchange for a second string fullback, a player in drug rehab and an eleventh round pick next year. When you read this kind of nonsense, please remember there are only seven rounds in the NFL Draft…

Some folks who pay attention to actual NFL contracts and what teams might be able to do in terms of signings have said this is a “lean year” for free agents. From my look at who is available on the open market, I would say there are slim pickings out there given how many solid players would be on the open market had they not had a franchise tag applied. There are still a few quality players out there but there are more question marks than the raving fanboys would want to admit.

Just a short aside here. I live in the Washington DC suburbs; around here, fans are used to the fact that the Washington Redskins make personnel moves every March that turns them into a juggernaut that no other team in the NFL could possibly measure up to. Around here, this is called the Spring Super Bowl and the Redskins win it every year - - sadly,their free agent signings and draftees usually show up without that big red “S” on their chests once the season begins.

Let me give you a partial list of quality players who might have been available this year had it not been for the franchise tag:

Ken Hamlin: A solid safety who makes plays.

Nnamdi Asomugha: The second best CB with an expiring contract.

Dallas Clark: Franchised and then signed to a long-term deal.

Jordan Gross: A more than adequate offensive tackle.

Some teams used franchise tags for mysterious reasons. The Eagles prevented L.J. Smith from hitting the free market. Smith is not a bad player, but he is hardly a player who cannot be replaced - - witness the fact that the Eagles seem to have to replace him several times a year when he is injured. Even more shocking to me was the Cardinals’ decision to make Karlos Dansby (he’s a linebacker in case you have never heard of him) their franchise player. Dansby does not embarrass himself on the field, but he is in no danger of being considered “great”.

If a team is looking for a wide receiver, Randy Moss is a free agent. Someone on sports radio said he thought it would take $25M guaranteed and at least three years to sign Randy Moss. When he is healthy and motivated, he is indeed a great receiver, but he is neither always healthy nor motivated. So, signing him might be a huge gamble with a big reward as a possibility. In addition, Bertrand Berrian is also likely to hit the free agent marketplace. Berrian will make a spectacular catch on a 50-yard play and then drop the next pass that hits him in both hands with no defender near him. One report said he wants a minimum of $8M a year over 5 years. Caveat emptor…

If a team is looking for a linebacker, Lance Briggs is a free agent. There is no doubt he can play. There is also no doubt that he is less than committed to keeping his word. Remember, he said he would never – ever, ever – play another down for the Chicago Bears before he signed his contract and played all last season.

If a team is looking for a cornerback, Asante Samuel is a free agent. Assuming that you do not consider him the NFL version of Bill Buckner for missing that critical – and not all that difficult – interception in the Super Bowl, Samuel could be a prized addition to just about any team.

If a team is looking for a running back, Michael Turner is a free agent – and Michael Turner is a good running back who has not gotten enough recognition because he plays behind LaDanian Tomlinson in San Diego.

If a team is looking for an offensive tackle, Flozell Adams is a free agent. When he is on his game, Adams is dominating. When he is off his game, he is prone to false starts and susceptible to speed rushers coming around the corner. You just know that there are a dozen coaches out there who are absolutely certain that they have the formula to assure he is always on his game.

If a team is looking for a defensive lineman, there may be some available via cuts this year:

Darwin Walker is already out there; I suspect his agent might be like the “Maytag Repairman.”

Shaun Rogers might be available because he seems to have worn out his welcome in – and eaten his way out of – Detroit.

Jevon Kearse ought to be available too; he is a shadow of his former self; injuries and Father Time have reduced “The Freak” to “The Squeak”.

Marcus Spears might also be available for the right price – something more than an “eleventh round pick”; he was a recent first round pick and he has not come close to living up to that billing yet.

Returning to the news is the Duke Lacrosse Case. Thirty-six members of the Duke Lacrosse team – the one that held “the party” and the one that had its season canceled and the one that had its coach fired – have filed suit against Duke University in Federal court. The plaintiffs claim “emotional distress” from going through a “horrifying personal nightmare” due in large part to the way in which the university dealt with this matter. I have said all along that the actions of the administration at Duke were draconian and premature at the very best and now a court will decide if the university has a financial culpability here.

Instead of gathering facts on its own or waiting to see a more complete set of evidence, the administration and many of the faculty at Duke rushed to judgment. In the end, no charges ever made it to trial; the investigative processes would be flattered if called “questionable” and the prosecutor was disbarred. Granted that no one associated with the university did anything to make all that turn out the way it did, but the school’s actions were such that they would have been appropriate only if the case had proceeded to some state where there was evidence that a crime actually happened. The case did not do that.

Obviously, the university’s lawyer says the case is without merit and that Duke has offered to help the plaintiffs and their families to “move on”. It will be interesting to hear what a Federal judge has to say about the merits of the case when Duke files its obligatory motion to dismiss the case because it has no merit.

As I always point out when discussing legal matters here, I am not an attorney. Having said that, here is one way that the case could have a huge measure of merit. If the plaintiffs can show that the school administrators had access to exculpatory evidence and acted in its draconian way in spite of that exculpatory evidence, there might be a drain on that endowment fund in Durham NC. Do not say that cannot possibly be the case; that is exactly the behavior that got the prosecutor disbarred…

Finally, speaking of motions to dismiss Federal charges, here is a comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald:

“Barry Bonds’ attorneys have asked a federal judge to dismiss perjury charges because the questions posed to him by prosecutors were confusing and ‘’frequently compound.'’ Meaning that, on top of his lying about steroid use, Barry apparently isn’t real bright, either.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…