For NFL teams, free agency means one of two things: Either your team gets better or your team gets worse.
For NFL fans, free agency means one of two things: either you get excited about new acquisitions or suffer from Post-Player Depression (or both).
We get emotional – we’re fans. There is an attachment there because we spend all of our time trying to find out as much information as we can about these players and invest ourselves in their performance on the field every Sunday.
For us, Ravens fans, the first day of free agency is like ripping a duct tape band-aid off of a scabbed over wound. We all knew Torrey Smith was going to leave, but when I read his letter of departure it still sounded like that tape was being pulled fresh from the roll.
As far as the Haloti Ngata trade, well that was a blindsiding that very few saw coming. That’s a different kind of gut-punch.
While it’s painful watching all these players leave via free agency, it is a credit to the Ravens drafting and player development. Pernell McPhee garners an $8 million/year contract with Chicago without mention of an offer from Baltimore. There is such a log jam on the defensive line that Ozzie doesn’t even bother trying to act like he might offer a contract to guys like McPhee or Arthur Jones before him. Meanwhile the defensive line just seems to get better and better every year.
There’s another NFL team out there that does business like the Baltimore Ravens—the New England Patriots. The only player that Bill Belichick is attached to is Tom Brady and that’s because everyone else on the team is expendable. There’s a reason Baltimore-New England is turning into one of the best rivalries in football – it’s because they do business the same way. They don’t latch onto players that they can easily replace in the draft for a quarter of the money.
If you’re curious what the Lombardi Trophy for winning free agency looks like, look no further than the New York Jets. They’ve signed Brandon Marshall and Darrelle Revis already this offseason— but they didn’t have a choice. They have to sign players like this because they don’t have a quarterback. When you don’t have a guy that garners a nine-digit salary you have to surround Geno Smith with free agent splashes because of the salary floor. It makes it look like you’re trying to win on the field when in reality all you’re doing is winning the battle of the headlines and fulfilling your obligation under the collective bargaining agreement.
The only thing that resides on Revis Island for the foreseeable future? An 8-8 pile of headline-winning garbage that does nothing but disappoint year in-year out.
Imagine dealing with that frustration every single season. You have to buy new jerseys every year because your team is desperately reaching for the next big free agent. In Baltimore, we have to buy new gear every three years because we produce too much talent.
This should not fall by the wayside. Torrey Smith wrote a letter expressing his deep emotion for the city of Baltimore, his teammates, the fans, and ownership. He signed for an extra million dollars a year with a team that is riddled with inconsistency and what would seem to be a hapless mess of a front office. At one time, even our Baltimore legend, Ray Lewis, was ready to pack his bags and suit up for Football Lucifer in Dallas.
The players are invested, but just like front offices, they’re usually looking for the best deal they can find. And the quicker we realize that being sentimental in football doesn’t win championships the more our sanity will stay intact.
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