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Football's agents of change

After 15 years, free agency has leveled league's financial field

Lee Rasizer, Rocky Mountain News

Published March 28, 2007 at midnight

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The jet-setting, big-money frenzy that started the NFL's free agency period has slowed. The top-tier players on the open market have gotten their eye-popping deals.

Some talented but perhaps middling performers took advantageof the perfect storm of salary-cap room and a watered-down crop of free agents that raised the value of the "B-listers" to new heights.But a good many unattached veterans still are waiting for the phone call that could lead to the right deal. At least they have the opportunity to go elsewhere. Before the current system took root 15 years ago, the process never had a chance to slow to a crawl.

Free agency, if you could call it that, was labeled Plan B before the 1993 collective-bargaining agreement that set the current system in motion.

Back then, the hangers-on near the bottom of the roster and players with bloated contracts were the only ones able to shop themselves to the highest bidder.

"There was no need for a team to increase salary of a player, other than for the reason it was fair," Richard Berthelsen, general counsel for the NFL's players' union, said recently.

"A player could say he's just as good as someone on another team and he's making twice as much as me. The threat to publicize that fact and embarrass the front office was really all they had going for them; that, and the threat of retiring, which most clubs didn't take seriously."

Threat almost backfires

Agent Harold Lewis laughed when he remembered trying to get famously tight-fisted St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill to open his wallet and pay market value to his client, running back Stump Mitchell, under the constraints of Plan B.

One option was threatening a move to the now-defunct United States Football League.

"The only chance we had was dealing possibly with another league," Lewis recalled. "So taking the town's fan favorite possibly to a new league and a new city, we tried to play on that, instead of now, where you can play off 31 other teams."

A news conference was called trumpeting Mitchell's potential move. An oversized check for a $1 million signing bonus was displayed on an easel, bearing the signature of Arizona Wranglers owner Bill Tatham Jr.

Problem was, there was no deal in place for Mitchell. It was all a ruse to get Bidwill to come to the bargaining table.

"The scary part was the player had no idea," Lewis said. "He really thought he was going there. And me and the owner of the other team, which was Bill Tatham Jr., were looking at each other like, 'Oh, (my Lord), this better come through.' "

The Cardinals eventually relented and re-signed Mitchell. Had they not blinked, Lewis joked he might be a sportswriter today.

"My point is you didn't have any leverage at all," he said.

Now, teams are obligated by their agreement with the union to spend a minimum of 85 percent of what has grown to a $109 million cap on salaries. Players make about 60 percent of total gross revenues, compared with about 30 percent 35 years ago.

In the big picture, everyone involved - owners, players, agents - seemingly has benefited.

"It really is amazing," Lewis said. "What the NFL Players' Association has done for us is basically given us a license to make as much money as we can out there - a license to kill. It's incredible. And they've made it so it's a win-win for both sides."

Lawsuits get ball rolling

The idea of free agency was first seriously broached in 1974. But the owners were wary of the costs and most players reasoned the quarterbacks and running backs would dominate salaries.

The tradeoff in the 1970s and 1980s? Benefits increased markedly while salary growth was slow.

But a series of lawsuits got free agency on the front burner again. Plan B arrived as a result of the 1987 strike, but teams still could retain limited rights to 37 players each season. Protected players barely had any choice but to stay since the costs to leave were so prohibitive to other clubs.

But in a case involving eight players, with New York Jets running back Freeman McNeil as lead plaintiff, it was ruled that Plan B violated antitrust laws. And instead of more legal battles, the league and union hashed out the collective-bargaining agreement that has remained the framework.

The tradeoff for players hitting the open market was a salary cap and the right for teams to protect one "franchise" player, who had to be paid the average of the top five players at his position from the previous season.

The labor deal, with tweaks, has been extended four times.

"This is just one guy's opinion, but I think it's worked pretty well," New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis said. "Guys have the opportunity to look around. They have probably a better idea of what their market value is, and, if they're really unhappy in a particular city or circumstance, then at some point in their career, they're going to have the opportunity to move. At the same time, we've been able to maintain competitive balance."

Historic deals

Several distinct periods have marked free agency in 15 years.

The first landmark move, in 1993, was the Green Bay Packers' signing of Reggie White to a four- year, $17 million contract.

"All these teams were going to throw parades for him and we were talking in the office and said, 'Why don't we give him a call?' " recalled Ted Thompson, the Packers' director of pro personnel at the time and now the club's general manager. "He ended up becoming a great signing."

The Broncos, Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers joined the Packers in using free agency to their advantage on their way to Super Bowl titles.

In 1994, cornerback Deion Sanders helped pave the way for the current financial landscape when he accepted a contract from the 49ers with minimum annual salaries and huge up-front money that could be prorated over the life of the contract.

"That was as much a breakthrough as anything," NFLPA counsel Berthelsen said.

But it also led to salary-cap hell for teams who were faced with "dead money" once those deals proved too cumbersome.

"At first, you wanted to go get everybody. But there are caveats," Tennessee Titans coach Jeff Fisher said, noting the financial implications of too many free-agent splurges.

"And you have to make sure the player you're interested in not only is productive but that you're asking him to do the same things you're doing."

The New England Patriots in recent seasons have done a bang-up job shunning high-ticket free agents and identifying bargains who become valuable role players, though they did sign a couple of big-ticket players this year. Their approach has become the model for some other teams.

Over time, free agency also has become watered down because teams have shifted toward rewarding their own high-production players with long-term deals.

"People do sew up their guys early on," Seattle Seahawks pro personnel director Will Lewis said. "The mission or philosophy is . . . if you're going to spend the money, spend it on your own guys and keep them."

Big money flowing

This year, franchise players have included defensive linemen Justin Smith (Cincinnati), Cory Redding (Detroit), Dwight Freeney (Indianapolis) and Charles Grant (New Or-leans); linebacker Lance Briggs (Chicago); cornerback Asante Samuel (New England); and kicker Josh Brown (Seattle).

Prying them away from their old teams costs two No. 1 draft picks. In Freeney's case, competing bids are not allowed.

Still, for the players, long-term deals with their current clubs eventually can occur, though there's sometimes gnashing of teeth over a player's lack of freedom to shop before then.

For most involved, it's hard to complain. In the first weeks after the March 2 opening of free agency, huge dollars were the norm.

• Cornerback Nate Clements' $80 million deal is the benchmark for all NFL defenders.

• Guards Eric Steinbach (Cleveland), Leonard Davis (Dallas) and Derrick Dockery (Buffalo) and linebacker Adalius Thomas (New England) all got at least $7 million a season.

And unlike Stump Mitchell's big piece of cardboard years ago, you can cash those checks.

Earlier fears about the quarterback and running backs getting all the money have proved unfounded.

"What we've learned is that every position is a skill position in its own varying way," Berthelsen said.

And unlike baseball, the majority of teams can have real title aspirations because of the competitive and financial landscapes.

Winners, losers

Some key moves in free agency by the Broncos that worked and some that didn't.

The good

• Neil Smith, DE, 1997: 19 sacks, two titles in three years.

• Bill Romanowski, LB, 1996: Say what you will, he played hard and won.

• Darrien Gordon, CB, 1997: Best career punt return average for team.

• Howard Griffith, FB, 1997: Paved the way for Terrell Davis' magic.

• Ed McCaffrey, WR, 1995: Fans still hear echo of Ed-die, Ed-die chant.

The bad

• Darryl Gardener, DT, 2003: Smashed IHOP patrons, not QBs.

• Kavika Pittman, DE, 2000: Only eight sacks in three seasons.

• Dale Carter, CB, 1999: Character issues limited stay to 14 games.

• Denard Walker, CB, 2001: Lived up to hands of stone nickname.

• Eddie Kennison, WR, 2001: Didn't even last one full season.

Home free

Top records in the NFL since the current system of free agency began in 1993.

Team Record Pct.

Broncos 139-85 .621

Green Bay 139-85 .621

Pittsburgh 138-85-1 .618

New England 134-90 .598

Kansas City 131-93 .585

Taking off

Tracking veteran free agents who have changed teams.

Year UFA RFA Tran Fran Total

1993 108 8 4 1 121

1994 121 7 4 0 132

1995 171 6 2 0 179

1996 99 4 2 0 105

1997 85 2 2 0 89

1998 110 4 1 2 117

1999 115 2 1 0 118

2000 107 4 0 0 111

2001 93 4 0 0 97

2002 130 1 0 0 131

2003 111 5 1 0 117

2004 124 1 1 0 126

2005 104 3 0 0 107

2006 149 4 1 0 154

2007 84 2 0 0 86*

• * Through March 23.

• Key: UFA: unrestricted free agent; RFA: restricted free agent; Tran: Transition; Fran: Franchise.