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Ravens TE
Shannon Sharpe
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Value. What is the value of a free agent? In football, it’s harder to gauge than
it is in basketball or baseball. In those sports, it’s easier to project how the
number of points, home runs, rebounds or RBIs might transfer from one city to another.
In football, the ultimate team sport, there are more variables to consider before
pursuing one or two or three players who could make a significant difference.
In football, there are more interchangeable players, more parts valuable not so much
for individual talent, but for how they fit into the bigger picture. In last year’s
case of Shannon Sharpe, for example, the Ravens acquired not only a productive, proven
tight end, but a leader who immediately latched on to Ray Lewis during the MLB’s
murder trial in Atlanta (the charges were dropped when Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction
of justice) and served as a mentor, friend and workout partner at a critical time.
What Sharpe contributed to Baltimore’s offense on the field was substantial, but
it paled next to what he contributed to Baltimore’s defense off the field.
How do you anticipate, measure and pay for that?
Reggie White, the first free agent who made a difference, gave the Packers ability on
the field and credibility off it. Until White signed to play at the league’s most
unlikely outpost, the Packers wondered whether they could compete in the free-agent
market. They particularly wondered whether African-American players would even consider
their small town. White quickly showed his peers there are banks and ATMs everywhere.
White made such an impact that other teams were fooled into believing they, too, were
only one or two free agents away from the Super Bowl. Dana Stubblefield won Defensive
Player of the Year honors in San Francisco and got rich in Washington. The Redskins
evidently didn’t notice he had been playing next to Bryant Young in San Francisco.
Stubblefield was looking for work as of this printing.
Trent Dilfer became the first quarterback to change teams in free agency and take his
new team to a Super Bowl, although Neil O’Donnell played a vital role as a backup for
the Titans the year before. For Dilfer’s trouble, he finds himself again on the
free-agent market, discarded like a practice jersey, as the Ravens look to Elvis Grbac to
upgrade them.
In Kansas City, Grbac was considered only slightly better than average on the field and
questionable off, winning no most-popular-teammate awards. For all of Dilfer’s
faults, his teammates respected him and worked for him.
Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson told a Kansas City reporter, "I think if
Elvis is being honest, he will say he did not care for some of his teammates. That’s
certainly what he articulated to me. He didn’t feel many of the players respected
him, and as I understood it, that’s one of the reasons he wanted to move on."
Grbac countered, "That was really disappointing. I had a lot of friends on the
Chiefs. We lost a lot of key players, but the ones who were there, to a man, respected me.
… The Chiefs are just frustrated I left, and they’re looking for a reason and a
scapegoat."
Grbac also made this promise in Baltimore: "I’m going to take this team to a
different level."
Above the Super Bowl?
The Ravens also signed ORT Leon Searcy as an upgrade over Harry Swayne.
"Clearly, you can see what we’re doing. We have to change the dynamic a
little bit if we want to go back to the Super Bowl," head coach Brian Billick said.
"I don’t think there’s any mistaking what our intentions are. We
aren’t sitting back. We feel these are huge steps in us getting back to the Super
Bowl."
Overall, the free-agent market has been strictly a buyer’s market. Teams are
sitting back and watching players squirm, figuring their prices will go down.
There are enough big-name defensive tackles on the loose to start another wrestling
league — Stubblefield, Chester McGlockton, Cortez Kennedy, D’Marco Farr, Ted
Washington.
All play a position that happens to be deep with draft prospects. Why sign a veteran
before Draft Day? If you don’t get one in the draft, plenty of veterans will still be
out there.
Teams appear to be getting smarter every year. Signing big-name free agents used to
provide instant public-relations value, if nothing else. If signing a familiar veteran
happened to coincide with season-ticket renewals and created publicity on the radio talk
shows, it was worth at least some of the money it cost whether the player could still play
or not.
Wiser decision-makers sign the young Denard Walker to play cornerback, not the
washed-up Deion Sanders. Teams are leaning more than ever on their scouts to draft players
and on their coaches to develop them faster. If it means sacrificing a veteran, teams
would rather protect themselves with two lower-priced prospects. Can fans really tell the
difference? More importantly, do the free agents really make the difference?
Free agency was something new in 1993, mysterious and unknown. When Reggie White and
Deion Sanders signed with new teams that reached Super Bowls, free agency started to look
dramatic and daring. If teams didn’t open their purse strings and lure established
stars, they would soon lag hopelessly behind.
Alas, most football teams are more than one or two players away from the promised land.
The Redskins became Exhibit A last offseason. Free agency is another of the many tools
available to help smart teams build winners — emphasis on smart. It is no more or
less important than the waiver wire, the draft, trades or the weight room. It is no
panacea.
Don’t tell that to fans of the Buccaneers. If trading for Keyshawn Johnson
wasn’t enough last season, signing free agent Brad Johnson is.
Johnson & Johnson. Don’t they make Band-Aids?
Don Pierson covers pro football for the Chicago Tribune |
