Okay, babeee!!! It?s March Madness time!!! Except, the madness is the NFL free agency period not college hoops. NFL teams have been making big name cuts and signing free agents to big, BIG contracts. With the salary cap jumping up to about $109 million, some teams have been spending accordingly. What has been a little bit different in this year?s free agency is the amount of trades going on with veteran players. Normally, most NFL trades have been made on draft day, and it means the exchanging of draft picks in order to jockey for position to acquire a player a team makes sure it can pick. Veterans traded for veterans and/or picks used to occur about as much as a lunar eclipse. Thus far, we have seen multiplayer deals including picks like the one with the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions. The Broncos acquired Pro Bowl cornerback Dre Bly and a 6th round pick from the Lions for RB Tatum Bell, OT George Foster, and a 5th round pick. Then there have been the straight up player-for-player trades like the one that saw the Cleveland Browns trade RB Reuben Droughns to the New York Giants for WR Tim Carter. Droughns can help pick up the slack for the retired Tiki Barber while Carter gives the Browns a vertical threat that can allow WR Braylon Edwards and TE Kellen Winslow to operate effectively underneath. It used to be that NFL teams relied almost solely on the draft for players or other teams? castoffs. Now, general managers have adjusted and begun to utilize all avenues available for player acquisitions. This has been mainly driven by the salary cap. The NFL cap is a hard cap and as long as a team is under it, it can draft, make trades, and sign free agents to make up their roster. NFL GMs? trading activity often paled in comparison to their other professional league counterparts in the NBA, NHL, and MLB. However, they now are as active as any and perhaps have the most even, football related trades. The NBA has a soft cap and many trades are made to dump salary or move a disgruntled superstar, like when Toronto traded Vince Carter to New Jersey for what equated to a song ? and a bad one at that. Most MLB trades see players who cannot be re-signed traded for prospects that may or may not ever pan out. More often than not, NBA and MLB trades are uneven in terms of talent and / or the product on the court or field. Recent NFL trades have made sense for both teams in terms of talent and filling personnel and position needs. This trend could make the NFL free agency period turn baseball?s hot stove league into a mere meat freezer and be the most exciting in all of the professional sports. The player movements have been fast and furious and are continuing while this article is being written. Let?s take a look at some teams off-season thus far? The Good? The New England Patriots are having an outstanding off-season, showing that they are being aggressive in trying to get back to the Super Bowl after losing last year?s AFC Championship Game. They signed the free agent prize of 2007 in linebacker Adalius Thomas. The Pro Bowler is going to excel in New England under the defensive chess master, Bill Belichick. The Patriots have traditionally not been FA spenders but moved quickly to get a deal done with Thomas, a five?year $35 million dollar deal, showing VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli and Belichick will pay for the right player. They franchised CB Asante Samuel, despite taking the $7.79 million salary cap hit for 2007, but Samuel is one of the better defensive backs in the NFL and excels in the Patriot system. New England has had terrible injury problems in their defensive backfield the last couple of seasons and did not want to lose a key contributor. In a rare move, the Patriots completed an inter-division trade for Miami Dolphins' restricted FA receiver Wes Welker. It may seem the Patriots overpaid for Welker, the Dolphins third receiver, having given up a second round and seventh round draft picks. However, this is the type of move that shows the Patriot personnel department is among the best in football. Welker is a very productive football player, both as a receiver and return man. Plus, he is very tough and will be a well utilized weapon by QB Tom Brady who sees the field so well. Brady will get Welker the football where he will do extensive damage. The Patriots signed veteran TE Kyle Brady who will mainly be a blocker, complementing Ben Watson in their two TE sets. Sammy Morris was signed to replace the released RB Corey Dillon and will back up new workhorse RB Laurence Maroney. They also re-signed special teams ace LB Larry Izzo. Despite the great start, the Patriots do not appear to be done as they are talking to FA linebacker Edgerton Hartwell, recently released by the Atlanta Falcons, and there is a potential trade in the works for Oakland Raiders' WR Randy Moss. A potentially motivated Moss playing with Brady is a scary proposition for defensive coordinators. The Denver Broncos missed the playoffs last season, a feat they are not looking to repeat in 2007, judged by their activity to date. Many of the Broncos' problems were laid at the feet of enigmatic QB Jake Plummer, who gave way to rookie QB Jay Cutler. However, beyond the QB issues, the running game was not at a level Coach Mike Shanahan was accustomed to and the run defense was not what they wanted it to be giving up 113 yards per game at 4.1 per carry. These facts led to the dismissal of Defensive Coordinator Larry Coyer and the trades of Plummer and Bell. Bly was brought in to play with Champ Bailey, forming perhaps the league?s best pair of corners. This duo should allow the Bronco LB's and S's to play the run very aggressively. They also traded a 6th round pick to the Dolphins for aging DT Dan ?Big Daddy? Wilkinson to help plug open holes. Travis Henry was signed as a FA and may be the Broncos best RB since Terrell Davis was injured and retired. Former first?rounders TE Daniel Graham and QB Patrick Ramsey were also signed as FA's. Graham is both a good blocker and receiver who should be able to get quite a bit of single coverage playing with WR's Javon Walker, Rod Smith, and Brandon Marshall. Ramsey will clearly be Cutler?s backup the next two years, but he has great mechanics. He may be able to regain his confidence with Shanahan?s coaching. The New York Jets are looking to keep themselves in the playoff picture with a strong off-season. They acquired RB Thomas Jones for essentially swapping second round picks with the Chicago Bears. Jones is a good all ? around back, Curtis Martin-esque, if you will. He will be a workhorse for the Jets who want to run the football and play defense. They released veteran DE Bobby Hamilton only to re-sign him to a more cap friendly deal. They also added versatile FB Darian Barnes from the Dolphins. DE Kenyon Coleman was signed and is a very good 3 ? 4 end that can move inside with a four man front. The Bad? Aside from their first head coaching change in 15 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers are also having personnel changes that may lead to a change in the defensive philosophy itself. Pro Bowl LB Joey Porter was released in an alleged salary cap move. However, this leads to further speculation that with new Head Coach Mike Tomlin aboard, the Steelers may switch from their traditional 3- 4 defense to a 4?3 which Tomlin has always coached. Porter was due a $1 million bonus at the beginning of March and due a salary of $4 million for the season which could have escalated to a total of $6 million for the season with bonuses. The Dolphins since signed Porter where he got a five?year, $32 million deal with $20 million in guarantees for his trouble. Plus, Porter is sure to take well to South Beach. The point is the Steelers should have allowed Porter to play out his contract in 2007, where he would have been sure to have a great season with pending FA in 2008. We saw the deal he just got after a relatively mediocre 2006 so the money would have been there for Porter. The Steelers lack depth at linebacker despite being a 3?4 team. With Porter out of the picture, the Steelers did extend DE Aaron Smith to a new five?year contract. Smith is a versatile lineman who can play as a 3?4 end or 4?3 tackle, however, he is now on the wrong side of 30. The Steelers would have been better off allowing both Porter and Smith to become free agents in 2008 and draft their replacements in the 2007 draft while making the extension of all ? world safety Troy Polamalu their 2007 off-season focus so he does not reach free agency in 2008. When Tom Donahoe was the GM in the ?90s, the Steelers did an excellent job of drafting players where they would basically use their rookie season as almost a red shirt year and be ready to contribute or take over for a veteran in their second seasons. Nebraska DE Adam Carriker would have been an excellent choice for the Steelers at pick 15 with Georgia DE (OLB) Quentin Moses to follow in the second round to replace Smith and Porter as cap?friendly starters, respectively, in 2008. Jon Gruden is acquiring QB's for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers like they are a fantasy football team. Jeff Garcia was signed as a FA after a successful season in Philadelphia. The Bucs also traded for Plummer, who is now allegedly retired. While it might have been a good move to bring in a veteran QB with Chris Simms coming off that horrendous spleen injury (removed) and rookie Bruce Gradkowski failing to impress, is Garcia really the answer? Garcia is without a doubt a system QB. Gruden runs the West Coast Offense which is good for Garcia, but for their offense to really be good, the QB has to get the ball downfield to WR Joey Galloway. Garcia is not a downfield passer, just ask T.O. Simms. If healthy, he is capable of getting the ball deep. It would have been more prudent to get a QB with a strong arm (Ramsey?) to either start for or backup Simms. Once teams bottle up the intermediate and short passes against Garcia, the Tampa ground game will be even worse than last season. The Buffalo Bills are under the cap which is why it is hard to understand why they would lose both CB Nate Clements and MLB London Fletcher?Baker to FA and trade RB Willis McGahee for fearing not being able to extend his contract beyond 2007. Aside from Adalius Thomas, Clements was considered the top FA available in 2007 and was none the less overpaid by the 49ers. The Bills could have worked harder at a deal for him or being under the cap, never letting him get to FA to begin with. Fletcher?Baker is a little undersized and may have lost a half to a whole step at this point but was still a great leader for the team, especially with fellow LB Takeo Spikes still not all the way back from a 2005 injury. McGahee was moved to the Baltimore Ravens for a mere pittance, 2007 third and seventh round picks along with a third round pick in 2008. The Ravens since locked up McGahee to a seven?year $40 million deal. Now, the Bills have virtually no one to run behind a line they have questionably revamped this off-season. They signed guard Derrick Dockery to a seven?year $49 million deal. Yes, that?s right a $49 million guard. Tackle Langston Walker was signed from the Raiders at a five?year, $25 million clip. No one associated with all of the jail breaks in Oakland last year should have received a contract like that. ?and the Ugly It should be surprising to no one that the Detroit Lions are among the ugly 2007 off-season, thus far, as it has been ugly in Detroit for a long time. GM Matt Millen and Coach Rod Marinelli have caused more head scratching than a bunch of actors trying out for a Head and Shoulders commercial. It started with trading one of the better cover and big play corners in the league Bly for a RB and OL Bell and Foster, who were unsuccessful in Denver?s run friendly system. They followed that up by trading the relatively productive DE James Hall to the St. Louis Rams for a 5th round pick only to sign FA DE DeWayne White to a gaudy five ? year, $29 million deal with $13 million guaranteed. Granted, White knows Marinelli?s system from Tampa Bay, but the financial impact has to be taken into consideration. Speaking of which, they franchised DT Cory Redding at a 2007 salary of $6.775 million. Add Shaun Rogers to the mix, and it means the Lion defensive line is taking up more cap space than Barry Bonds? head. Bell really doesn?t fit in Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz? system so to make up for it they signed FA human battering ram T.J. Duckett who is an even worse fit than Bell. Sure, RB Kevin Jones is questionable with his foot injury, but this is not the way to fill the Lions' need at RB. The Lions also released capable veterans NT Marcus Bell, DL Tyoka Jackson, OL Ross Verba, and TE Marcus Pollard. It is believed that Marinelli would have liked to make more changes last off-season, but you do not make up for that by taking such a hodge podge approach in 2007. Some may be surprised to find the free spending San Francisco 49ers among the ugly, but it is not a matter of how much you spend but how you spend it. The 49ers were $36 million under this year?s cap when free agency began. They landed one of the top FA's available in Clements, but at $80 million over eight years, that contract could be an albatross around the 49ers' neck that returns them to the salary cap purgatory days brought on by former personnel bosses Carmen Policy and Terry Donahue. Clements is a great corner, but when he is on the wrong side of 30 in a few years, the 49ers will really regret this contract. Coach Mike Nolan should have done everything possible to get Adalius Thomas instead of Clements. He coached Thomas in Baltimore and knows that adding him to the promising OLB Manny Lawson could really make their 3-4 defense thrive. The 49ers already have Walt Harris who is coming off of a fine 2006 season and the young Shawntae Spencer at cornerback and nothing helps the defensive backfield more than a great pass rush. The 49ers did add OLB Tully Banta?Cain to a $9 million deal over three years, but his career has been relatively pedestrian with the Patriots to this point. Aside from the OLB positions, nose tackle is the most important position in a 3?4 defense. They think they did get a sleeper in former Raven NT Aubrayo Franklin at $6 million over three years, however, that remains to be seen. The controversial Antonio Bryant was released with WR Ashley Lelie signed to replace him. Lelie has yet to make it anywhere and his picture appears in the dictionary if you look up the word ?enigma.? Granted, Bryant was going to miss the first two games of the season due to suspension and is just as surly as all the prima donna wideouts, Randy Moss, T.O., and Keyshawn Johnson, if not getting fed the football. Clearly though, Lelie is no replacement for Bryant. The 49ers may use their first round pick on a receiver, but rookies seldom make an impact at that position and QB Alex Smith needs a good target to try and take the next step in his and the offense?s development. Well, keep an eye on the free agent scoreboard throughout the rest of March Madness, as there will be even more upsets before it?s all over ? babeee!