USA TODAY
Even though it s been seemingly unfolding (unofficially, for the most part) for days, the NFL s 2021 free agent market truly opens at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday when the new league year begins – and players with expiring contracts can officially switch teams and trades can officially be processed, allowing Matthew Stafford to finally join the Rams and Carson Wentz to onboard with the Colts.
But though free agency is often a good way to supplement a roster, it s also historically served buyer-beware lessons – especially to teams that tend to be overly reliant on quick-fix approaches.
Here are 21 free agent busts over the years who might just give GMs pause before they dole out that next mega-contract:
Mar 8, 2021
We’re still waiting for the 2021 salary cap number, which will lead to franchise tags being assigned and a bloodletting of high-priced veterans. Here’s what you need to know as of close of business Monday afternoon.
Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports (Williams); Isaiah J. Downing/USA TODAY Sports (Miller); Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports (Godwin)
• The franchise tag deadline is, for now, hours away, set for 4 p.m. ET Tuesday. There’s a chance it’ll get moved, of course, since the cap is part of the calculation and the cap hasn’t been set yet. But it’s at least notable that 13 days into the tag period, there’s been just one executed the Broncos franchising Justin Simmons. In the case of Simmons, since it’s his second tag, Denver does have the benefit of knowing his number ($13.792 million, which is 120% of his cap figure from 2020). But there’s more to the fact that teams haven’t used the tags yet. One is that in some cases, like Tampa Bay’s (with Chr
Among the more unusual professions to be found in this area is the vocation practiced by Andrew Osburn.
The lanky 50-year-old entrepreneur and Army veteran s eclectic background – recording studio engineer, website designer, utility field worker, French horn player, videographer, remodeler – led to his uncommon occupation as a professional drone pilot.
Born in Indiana and educated in the arcane science of geographic information systems, Osburn owns and operates Polk Drones LLC.
Q. What is the essence of your business?
A. Using drones, I produce and provide data for crop insurance companies. The USDA approves certain crop insurance providers. There are 14, including four or five large companies. They are beginning to see how drones make their lives much more productive when they don t have to go into the groves, up and down every row with a clicker counting trees – which is how some still do it.
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Ex-NFLer Owes $500K In Arbitration Tied To Concussion Case
Law360 (February 24, 2021, 3:52 PM EST) A Pennsylvania federal judge froze former Dallas Cowboys player Alvin Harper s bank accounts on Tuesday and ordered him to pay a nearly $500,000 arbitration award he owes to Balanced Bridge Funding LLC after he failed to make good on their funding agreement related to the NFL concussion litigation.
The legal financing company fronted Harper $431,722 in 2016 as an advance on potential damages he might be awarded as a class member in the concussion litigation. But Harper, a former wide receiver and 1991 first-round draft pick for the Dallas Cowboys, never put the actual proceeds from the suit in trust, as.
The math is pretty straightforward.
In normal times, there are about one million boys playing football in high school. Of those, approximately 73,000 become NCAA college football players. From that group only about 250 young men get drafted into the NFL annually, which has precisely 1,696 players on the active roster at any given time less than half of whom are starters.
Thus for the high school football player fantasizing eventual NFL stardom, he has less than a one-fifth of one percent chance of even making a team, much less achieving lasting fame which is yet another reason why it’s prudent to pay attention in math, science and English classes.