RAND: Chiefs avoid free agent traps…so far

[C-Mac]

RAND: Chiefs avoid free agent traps…so far
May 12, 2005, 4:13:22 PM by Jonathan Rand



Call this a cautionary tale of free agency. Not many teams get as much out of free-agent signings as they’d like. To really improve your team through free agency, and trades, you need to be very sharp and very lucky.



Just look at the merry-go-round involving the top available cornerbacks. The Chiefs stayed patient while all the pricey free agent cornerbacks were signed, and they finally traded for Pro Bowler Patrick Surtain just before the draft. Right now, the Chiefs should feel awfully good about that deal, in which they gave the Miami Dolphins a second-round draft choice. Surtain also commanded a whopping contract but should be worth it. He’s arguably more talented than any of the cornerbacks who received big deals in the free agent market.

For the Dolphins, trading Surtain made sense. He wanted out of Miami and had one year left on his contract. If you’re a new coach, like Nick Saban, you would just as soon not keep unhappy players. You’d rather look to the future and develop youngsters. So the Dolphins got a an extra draft choice and no longer need to worry about losing Surtain in free agency in another year. And they had Will Poole, a promising second-year cornerback, waiting in the wings.

Then Poole suffered a major knee injury in a recent mini-camp and is expected to miss the entire season. Now the Dolphins will be scrambling for a cornerback. One candidate whose name has popped up is Ty Law, the former New England Patriot. Remember him?

Before free agency started, he was considered by many the hottest cornerback prospect. And the Chiefs could have signed him right away for a ton of money. Of course, they would have been bidding against themselves because no NFL team has been willing to give a big contract, or any contract, to a player who still can’t run full speed.

Law is still recovering from a foot injury that caused him to miss the last nine regular-season games of 2004 and all the playoffs. He’s a four-time Pro Bowler and may yet be the prize cornerback of the 2005 free-agent crop. But you wouldn’t want to bet on that.

He won’t be healthy enough to work out for other teams until next month. Barring an astonishing recovery, it’s doubtful any team will sign him to a long deal. It was suggested in a Miami Herald story that Law probably would agree to sign a one-year deal.

If you’re the Dolphins and facing a rebuilding season, it’s not a disaster if you have to start an unproven cornerback. If you’re the Chiefs, however, you can’t afford that. Finding a top-notch cornerback was their top priority in revamping a defense and without Surtain, the Chiefs would still have a big hole to fill.

The Chiefs needed to fill that hole, preferably by draft day. Giving on-the-job training to a young cornerback was not an option. They’ve gone that route often enough lately.

The Chiefs, of course, shouldn’t be slapping themselves on the back just yet. Just because they’ve made a lot of sensible moves in the off-season doesn’t mean they’ll all work out. Surtain, as well as the Chiefs’ other veteran defensive additions, needs to show he’s still at the top of his game and needs to stay healthy. The Patriots won the Super Bowl despite a patchwork secondary but it’s doubtful the Chiefs, or anybody else, could duplicate that feat.

For the time being, you’d have to say the Chiefs have made all the right off-season moves. They’ll be headed for the playoffs if we still can say that in November.

[Lzen]

The Chiefs have made what look to be good on paper moves this offseason. But Rand is right. We won't know for sure how those pan out until the season is under way. Hopefully, the players they got are good attitude guys that will help motivate the rest of the team. From what I've been hearing, that may well be true.

They really need to draft better, though. As most of us know, it's much better to build through the draft in today's NFL.

[Eleazar]

I think Surtain and Knight are known quantities. I don't expect much from Hall, so any additional pass rush we get from him would be a nice bonus.

The two biggest make or break points for our season this year are going to be Bell's health and how effective Derrick Johnson can be as a rookie.

[TEX]

Rand must not remember the effort the CHIEFS put into signing Rolle. We were players early. To me, Rolle was the best FA CB avaiable. I wish it would have worked out cause we would have gotten to keep our 2nd round pick. I'm very happy we got Surtain, but Rolle was the CHIEFS # 1 choice for a reason.