Best Day of the Offseason

Midnight marks the best day of the NFL off season (next to the draft), for it is the beginning of free agency.

Even though my Bengals are never big players in free agency (too cheap and too conservative), it is always amusing to see all the insanity that goes into the first few hours of free agency.

Teams, though, have finally begun reigning themselves in.

Gone are the days when the Jaguars, Redskins, and Jets would spend millions and millions of dollars bringing in the best available free agents. A few franchises, the Raiders and Cowboys come to mind, still do this, but neither of those have been particularly effective at it.

I think you'll see teams approach free agency much more calmly than in the past. Very few teams, if any, are just one player away from the Super Bowl, so I don't think you'll see teams jump all over each other for one player.

Look at all the money the Redskins poured into Albert Haynesworth last year. How did that work out for them?

Look at the Raiders, 49ers, and Browns. All were on the cusp of getting turned around, but then they spent like mad on aging vets who clearly weren't worth the money and who clearly weren't going to be with the team longer than a year or two. Now all of those teams are heading back to the drawing board to rebuild yet again.

Now you can argue that the Cowboys have won some games, but really who has been vital to their success? All guys they either drafted (Demarcus Ware, Marion Barber, Jay Ratliff) or guys the signed as college free agents (Tony Romo and Myles Austin).

The real trick is to pick a few winners in free agency and then draft well. As much as it pains me to write this, I have to give the Vikes some credit here - free agents Steve Hutchinson and Bernard Berrian have helped the offense and Pat Williams and Antoine Winfield have boosted the defense. Throw on top of that one astute trade (Jared Allen) and a slew of good draft picks (Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin, Kevin Williams, and Adrian Peterson) and it's easy to see why they did so well last year.

All I'm hoping my Bengals do is dump their big free agent from last year (Laverneus Coles) and sign a descent tight end. There's talk of taking a look at Terrel Owens, but I don't see that happening. Actually, I'd love to see them bring back a kid they lost to free agency back in 2006, Kevin Walter, who has done well with the Texans.

Then I'd like to see them keep a couple of their own free agents (Bobbie Williams and Tank Johnson) and extend the contracts of their two stud corners.

After that, they can turn to the draft to help build their team (Taylor Mays in round one and that wide out from Georgia Tech in round two).

See all the fun one can have in the off season?