Free Agency is a racket. Out of every 100 URFA who sign about 10 will live up to their contracts and very few will exceed them. Unless you are a destination that players want to be at you have almost no chance at getting good deals because the Oaklands and Jacksonvilles of the world flood the marketplace with terrible contracts because they have money and nothing to do with it. This just isn't the time to build a roster. It's the time to finish one. And we are far from finished. The kind of smart bargain shopping you guys are talking about happens after the FA push is done and veterans spend a few weeks with no contract and no bidder.
And Welker did not leave Miami as a no name FA who could be had for a little contract. He left for a 2nd round pick. So if your argument is that we should be sending out 2nd rounders on unproven players because it worked in 2006, then I disagree. If your logic is we should sign a FA like 2006 Wes Welker, that FA never existed. The only time Wes Welker was ever an URFA it was as an old, overpaid, slot guy with concussion issues who signed with Denver.
Everybody gets excited about FA, but about 30 teams come out with buyer's remorse every year and end up cutting the guys they signed and carrying the dead money before the contracts ever end. Who is the best FA the Texans ever signed? Jonathon Joseph I guess? What's that make them? 1 for 10? 1 for 20?
Let me put it this way, when is the last time a non-playoff team successfully used FA as a significant part of building a roster?
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