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<a class="postlink" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130318/jake-long-nfc-west-nfl-free-agency-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/?sct=hp_wr_a2&eref=sihp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/ne ... &eref=sihp</a>
PHOENIX -- Lord, the NFC West is going to be a bear of a division in 2013.
That was my first thought as Sunday night turned into Monday morning here at the NFL Meetings, after Jake Long -- 27 years old, beat up the last two years, but two years removed from being the game's premier left tackle -- agreed to a four-year contract to be the Rams' left tackle.
It's a signing fraught with uncertainty. We -- most of us in the media, and fans, and teams -- overrate free agency as a tool to improve teams. How many times (including recently, in 2009) has Washington won free agency, then stunk the joint up when real football began? We yell at the Giants, Steelers and Packers for doing nothing in the free market except bleed players -- more about that in my Tuesday column, with some startlingly honest admissions from Packers GM Ted Thompson -- but tell me: How can you be critical of Thompson or Jerry Reese of the Giants or Kevin Colbert of the Steelers right now? They've combined to win four of the last six Super Bowls. Green Bay is 36 games over .500 in the last six regular seasons, Pittsburgh 30 over, and the Giants 20 over. But more about The Week of the GM tomorrow.
Back to the (sometimes false) hope of free agency. For a franchise that had been trying to compete with one competent tackle, Rodger Saffold, and a Ringling Brothers arrangement on the other side, the Rams getting Long is a big add. Very big. (And I'm told he passed his physical on Wednesday with ease after two battered seasons in Miami.)
Miami was in on Long aggressively, and one Dolphins official Sunday seemed confident Long would return for a sixth year. But no. And the Rams Sunday night were giving the credit for the migration to coach Jeff Fisher. "One of our players texted Jake and told him he'd retire if he had to play for any other coach besides Jeff,'' Rams GM Les Snead texted me late Sunday night. "Jeff gets veterans to Sunday ready to play ... Gets them to December ready to play ... So yes, he knows how to keep vets fresh physically, mentally and spiritually as good as anyone in the NFL."
There's an arms race in this division, with the Cardinals the only team looking spartan right now. Check out what each team has done since season's end:
Arizona: Hired a new coach, Bruce Arians, who will implement a deep passing game, and a GM, Steve Keim, unafraid of cutting ties with the past (Adrian Wilson, Kevin Kolb, Kerry Rhodes). Josh Cribbs, the Cleveland special-teams ace, was in town Sunday night, hoping to be the 10th middle-class free agent signed by the team this offseason. It'll be tough, though, putting quarterback marginalia (Drew Stanton, maybe Brian Hoyer or Ryan Lindley or John Skelton) up against the arms and strong pass rushes of the NFC West.
St. Louis: Lost three valuable offensive pieces (Steven Jackson, Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson) who won't be easily replaced. They'll ask Saffold to move to the right side, which he hasn't played. But the Rams desperately needed a top tackle, and signing Long is the best decision they could make, risky though it is. The Rams are the only team with three picks in the top 50 of the draft (16, 22, 46), and they'll need a receiver upgrade after losing two in the first five days of free agency. Tight end signee Jared Cook is an expensive question mark, though Fisher had him in Tennessee and loves him.
San Francisco: Still haven't fixed the secondary, losing hard-hitting safety Dashon Goldson and not adding any corners. That's an absolute must. But they'll have more draft choices in 2013 than any other team -- 15 -- and GM Trent Baalke, despite what the Niners say publicly, has to be thinking about what it would take to acquire Darrelle Revis, with extra picks in the second, third and fourth rounds as chips. Whatever, San Francisco has to be markedly better in the back of the defense to have a chance to win the Super Bowl in 2014. Clutch physical receiver Anquan Boldin will help Colin Kaepernick make plays downfield.
Seattle: "There is no way I thought, a week and a half ago, that we'd have Percy Harvin, Cliff Avril or Michael Bennett on our team this year,'' GM John Schneider told me here Saturday. "Any of them. Things just fell right for us." At midseason last year, Harvin was on pace for a 120-catch season, then hurt his ankle. Avril, on the outside, and Bennett, inside, should give the Seattle defense high-quality depth. Avril and Bennett came for a combined three years and $20 million, a pittance compared to what the market looked like it would yield early last week. The addition of Harvin will give Russell Wilson two receivers, Sidney Rice and Harvin, who can beat defenders deep.
I've mentioned this before, but don't go handing the division to the Niners or Seahawks yet. St. Louis was 4-1-1 in the division last year. What if the Rams can keep Sam Bradford (sacked 71 times in his last 26 games) significantly cleaner? And what if Arians can invent a quarterback? That's a huge what-if, and it's doubtful, but this is March. We major in what-ifs in March.
MORE: <a class="postlink" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130318/jake-long-nfc-west-nfl-free-agency-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/?sct=hp_wr_a2&eref=sihp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/ne ... &eref=sihp</a>
<a class="postlink" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130318/jake-long-nfc-west-nfl-free-agency-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/?sct=hp_wr_a2&eref=sihp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/ne ... &eref=sihp</a>
PHOENIX -- Lord, the NFC West is going to be a bear of a division in 2013.
That was my first thought as Sunday night turned into Monday morning here at the NFL Meetings, after Jake Long -- 27 years old, beat up the last two years, but two years removed from being the game's premier left tackle -- agreed to a four-year contract to be the Rams' left tackle.
It's a signing fraught with uncertainty. We -- most of us in the media, and fans, and teams -- overrate free agency as a tool to improve teams. How many times (including recently, in 2009) has Washington won free agency, then stunk the joint up when real football began? We yell at the Giants, Steelers and Packers for doing nothing in the free market except bleed players -- more about that in my Tuesday column, with some startlingly honest admissions from Packers GM Ted Thompson -- but tell me: How can you be critical of Thompson or Jerry Reese of the Giants or Kevin Colbert of the Steelers right now? They've combined to win four of the last six Super Bowls. Green Bay is 36 games over .500 in the last six regular seasons, Pittsburgh 30 over, and the Giants 20 over. But more about The Week of the GM tomorrow.
Back to the (sometimes false) hope of free agency. For a franchise that had been trying to compete with one competent tackle, Rodger Saffold, and a Ringling Brothers arrangement on the other side, the Rams getting Long is a big add. Very big. (And I'm told he passed his physical on Wednesday with ease after two battered seasons in Miami.)
Miami was in on Long aggressively, and one Dolphins official Sunday seemed confident Long would return for a sixth year. But no. And the Rams Sunday night were giving the credit for the migration to coach Jeff Fisher. "One of our players texted Jake and told him he'd retire if he had to play for any other coach besides Jeff,'' Rams GM Les Snead texted me late Sunday night. "Jeff gets veterans to Sunday ready to play ... Gets them to December ready to play ... So yes, he knows how to keep vets fresh physically, mentally and spiritually as good as anyone in the NFL."
There's an arms race in this division, with the Cardinals the only team looking spartan right now. Check out what each team has done since season's end:
Arizona: Hired a new coach, Bruce Arians, who will implement a deep passing game, and a GM, Steve Keim, unafraid of cutting ties with the past (Adrian Wilson, Kevin Kolb, Kerry Rhodes). Josh Cribbs, the Cleveland special-teams ace, was in town Sunday night, hoping to be the 10th middle-class free agent signed by the team this offseason. It'll be tough, though, putting quarterback marginalia (Drew Stanton, maybe Brian Hoyer or Ryan Lindley or John Skelton) up against the arms and strong pass rushes of the NFC West.
St. Louis: Lost three valuable offensive pieces (Steven Jackson, Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson) who won't be easily replaced. They'll ask Saffold to move to the right side, which he hasn't played. But the Rams desperately needed a top tackle, and signing Long is the best decision they could make, risky though it is. The Rams are the only team with three picks in the top 50 of the draft (16, 22, 46), and they'll need a receiver upgrade after losing two in the first five days of free agency. Tight end signee Jared Cook is an expensive question mark, though Fisher had him in Tennessee and loves him.
San Francisco: Still haven't fixed the secondary, losing hard-hitting safety Dashon Goldson and not adding any corners. That's an absolute must. But they'll have more draft choices in 2013 than any other team -- 15 -- and GM Trent Baalke, despite what the Niners say publicly, has to be thinking about what it would take to acquire Darrelle Revis, with extra picks in the second, third and fourth rounds as chips. Whatever, San Francisco has to be markedly better in the back of the defense to have a chance to win the Super Bowl in 2014. Clutch physical receiver Anquan Boldin will help Colin Kaepernick make plays downfield.
Seattle: "There is no way I thought, a week and a half ago, that we'd have Percy Harvin, Cliff Avril or Michael Bennett on our team this year,'' GM John Schneider told me here Saturday. "Any of them. Things just fell right for us." At midseason last year, Harvin was on pace for a 120-catch season, then hurt his ankle. Avril, on the outside, and Bennett, inside, should give the Seattle defense high-quality depth. Avril and Bennett came for a combined three years and $20 million, a pittance compared to what the market looked like it would yield early last week. The addition of Harvin will give Russell Wilson two receivers, Sidney Rice and Harvin, who can beat defenders deep.
I've mentioned this before, but don't go handing the division to the Niners or Seahawks yet. St. Louis was 4-1-1 in the division last year. What if the Rams can keep Sam Bradford (sacked 71 times in his last 26 games) significantly cleaner? And what if Arians can invent a quarterback? That's a huge what-if, and it's doubtful, but this is March. We major in what-ifs in March.
MORE: <a class="postlink" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130318/jake-long-nfc-west-nfl-free-agency-peter-king-monday-morning-quarterback/?sct=hp_wr_a2&eref=sihp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/ne ... &eref=sihp</a>
