NFC North - Saturday Free Agent Roundup

by Brandon on Mar 1, 2009 8:00 AM CST in News Comment 8 comments

Green Bay Packers. Crickets chirping...Well there is one rumor.

Dallas DE Chris Canty is in New York and then off to Seattle. He also wants $8 million/year which seems ridiculous to Dallas fans and to GM Ted Thompson. The Giants just signed a similar player, DT Rocky Bernard, at $4 million per year. Also, Canty's contract demand might make him the 2nd highest paid player on the team...for a run stuffer. Will some team drink the kool-aid and actually give this guy $8 million/year? Still it doesn't hurt to fly him into Green Bay for a meet-and-greet.

Chicago Bears.

They locked up backup OT Frank Omiyale. He wasn't obviously bad against the 2008 Chiefs (his only 2008 start). A lot of teams were interested in him and the Bears had to give up 4 years, $14 million to get him. He'll probably compete for the starting right tackle job.
And they are after ex-Packers S Darren Sharper. They appear to be in the market for a safety who's lost a step or two.

Detroit Lions. I expected they would be slow to move in free agency, but instead they are doing all they can. They might not be getting quality players, but they are getting guys who can plug some holes.

Traded QB Jon Kitna to Dallas for CB Anthony Henry. 2008 was the worst season of Henry's career and he was going to lose his starting CB job in Dallas. It's hard to get excited about a declining 32 year old CB, but the Lions need two new starting CBs and Henry only cost them a veteran QB that had no future in Detroit. The 36 year old Kitna heads up a youth movement at the backup QB spot in Big D; replacing the recently released 40 year old QB Brad Johnson.
They signed former Tennessee CB Eric King as the backup/nickel cornerback. More help/depth for their secondary, but it's hard to imagine great things from a 5'8" cornerback.
Also, former 49ers and Cardinal WR Bryant Johnson was signed to start alongside WR Calvin Johnson. Football Outsiders says he was perfectly average last season, which is probably an upgrade over what they currently have.

Minnesota Vikings.

They resigned blocking TE Jim Kleinsasser, somebody has got to clear the lane for RB Adrian Peterson, and backup DE Jayme Mitchell. Kleinsasser is a great blocker, but that's all, and I can't recall ever seeing Mitchell play.
They trade a 4th round pick to Houston for QB Sage Rosenfels. "All signs are pointing to the Vikes picking up their next great backup quarterback."

Poll

Which NFC North team has done the best so far in free agency?

Packers

95 votes

Chicago

14 votes

Detroit

122 votes

Minnesota

76 votes

307 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 8 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Hilarious logo

The Bears said they plan on using Omiyale as a guard, which is fine because I guess he has good athleticism (better, younger, cheaper St. Clair). I’m not so sure about Sharper; we can use his leadership for our young secondary (Steltz), but his range would concern me. His coverage skills compared to Mike Brown’s is probably negligible. I don’t believe we can declare a winner thus far, but I would have to think Detroit has had the best FA so far based on how bad they are/were.

"I'm not so mean. I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something." - Dick Butkus

by propheteer on Mar 1, 2009 11:16 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

The offseason so far..

has to go to Detroit… the have been the most active in the FA and trades area so far. Although the players they are getting are not A+ talent but they cant be worse then guys that went out and put up a 0-16 record. The trade for Henry kinda surprises me I thought Kitna was the only true QB they have that has exp. So it looks likely that they will go after Stafford in the draft. So which could be a battle for the starting job with 3 young arms. Drew Henson, Drew Staton who would played in only 12 games combined and have only started 1 game. So unless they resign Culpepper (believe he only had a one year deal?) they have no proven QB. But they are getting better on defense and the draft will help them but they still are the 0-16 Lions. The pick up Bryant will be benefical not having even if he is not a all-pro type he can get open when Calvin is doubled and without the contract and fuss that Williams had in the previous years.

by bizzle4 on Mar 1, 2009 11:19 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

another year of the status quo with TT

…it seems that Canty wanted to go the giants only!…..but it would still be nice for TT to proactivly go after players they really want versus waiting for them to visit others and insist they come in for a visit before talking $$$…….TT should have met with Canty (or agent) imediatley – it doesn’t matter if that was in GB or wherever Canty was at the time.

GB was never a serious contender in the Canty sweepstakes, but it would be nice for TT to be in a position to make an offer- even if chances are remote. In this situation, like most others, TT JUST SAT ON THE SIDELINES AND DIDN’T EVEN GET IN THE GAME….this story is old

I am not saying that i want to see TT go, but rather he should be expected to improve and correct processes that don’t seem to work. It is frustrating to see GB making the same personel mistakes year after year.

I hope they are talking $$$ to the next targets (Igor?) as we speak…regardless of whether they actually visit GB this week or not….sometimes you need to sack up and get agressive to “steal” free agents away from the competition

by ejthedj on Mar 1, 2009 5:41 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

in a way...

i agree. most TT supporters will say the dreaft is all we need but why put all your eggs in a broken basket? the draft is full of players that have the potential to be busts! you really can not tell who will be great in the NFL compared to college. with FA you pretty much know what you are getting so why not use some money to get proven talent rather then youth? not saying Canty was the perfect fit but he is just one example of many the past few seasons!!!

by bizzle4 on Mar 1, 2009 10:33 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

i feel your pain

ejthedj..like you said it’s not even the fact that didn’t get Canty, it’s that they just sat on the sideline. When MM fired Sanders and then hired Capers and decided to convert to the 3-4 the first thing i thought is we are finally going to make some much needed changes. One of them being that we actaully go after people in FA. I mean if we didn’t have much cap room to work with then fine, but we have $30 million!!!!

I get TT likes to build his team through the draft and he probably is one of the better GM’s in the league when it comes to evaluating guys. But for guy we draft that is a huge success there are always 2 more that didn’t work out, and that’s not TT’s fault, that’s just the way the draft works out.

I mean if we get the right pieces i really feel like we could contend this year, the offense is certainly good enough we just need some improvements on defense. It’s just frustrating to know that we have all the cap room and as far as we know we aren’t targeting anybody else.

Bizzle4 you said it perfectly, “with FA you pretty much know what you ae getting so why not use some to get proven talents rather then youth?”. I’m going to leave it at that

by packallday555 on Mar 1, 2009 10:37 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

thank you

i am glad someone sees the views i do.. with that said i would not say TT is a bad GM neither would I say he is a great GM. A great GM was Wolf… Someone that knew how to make deals through the draft as with the FA. Though TT has made some big splashes in FA in the past but this is a business a business that is represented by what have you done for me lately! and what has TT done lately? last year he signed Chillar and what other FAs am I missing?.. Kapinos.. and we are still in need of a punter and a OLB!!

by bizzle4 on Mar 1, 2009 11:05 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes, i agree his is a good GM. But he is good at what he does which is the draft. He needs to become good in FA also. I absolutely hate to say this b/c i hate viqueens so much but they showed last year that going out and making a big trade and a couple signings can help a ton. w/o allen the vikes d is trash and would go back to the awful pass d they were before he got there.

I just for once would like to see TT make a move that could significantly help our team. These next few years could be our window to really contend before we have to rebuild (harris, woodson retire) in a few years.

We are in dyer need of a punter!!!

by packallday555 on Mar 1, 2009 11:28 PM CST reply actions 0 recs