Every NFL season brings a new opportunity for teams to put together a winning team. In the parity-era of the NFL, finishing in the basement in your division last year and winning the Super Bowl the next is not out of the realm of possibility.
Part of this yearly renewal process involves players moving from one team to another.
NFL teams have become much better at managing the salary cap and as a result, the large number of big-name players who get released and become available for the picking doesn't happen as often as it once did.
However, that doesn't mean that players don't move teams any longer. What will happen now is the player will re-structure his contract in order to stay with his team or teams will let the player seek a trade.
While player-for-player trades don't occur very often, players-for-draft picks are now the norm.
This type of trade seems to benefit all parties. The team that was going to lose their player anyway because of the salary cap get at least something for him and the player can then investigate moving to a team of choice.
The team who trades the pick for the player then doesn't have to get into a money-bidding war with other teams. Often, the draft pick is a third round pick or so and may be a decent value based upon the success rate in the league of third round picks in general.
The NFL can seem like a cut-throat business. And that is probably because it is. A player like QB Steve McNair was the face of the Tennessee Titans franchise for years. He did everything that was asked of him: played hurt, made big plays in big games. And how was he thanked?
By being locked out of the Titans' training facility.
NFL contracts are really works of fiction at times. When the contract is signed, we are impressed with the big numbers. But a closer look shows that often these contracts include a final year where the player is scheduled to make a huge sum of money that the team never intends to pay.
When this big money year comes up, the team asks the player to re-structure, or they get rid of him.
McNair was in that position. The Titans couldn't afford millions of salary cap dollars going to a QB who was in his last years and had an injury history.
The Titans knew they didn't want to pay McNair, McNair didn't want to re-structure. But, if McNair was to become injured during the offseason, they would be on the hook for his huge salary. So they locked him out.
Of course, the grievance filed by the NFLPA found that the Titans had to let him workout at the training facility.
If McNair wanted to play, it was in his best interest to seek a trade and ensure he didn't get injured anyway, so the fact that the Titans never did let McNair workout wasn't the main issue. What it did do was accelerate the process to get McNair into a better situation with another team. McNair landed in Baltimore and it seems like a good fit for both parties.
McNair is closer to the end of his career than he is to the beginning, but the Ravens finally came to the conclusion that the Kyle Boller experience was a ride they needed to shut down.
Sure, the Ravens won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer at QB, but Boller isn't Dilfer. And the famed Raven defense is not what it used to be.
McNair can help both sides of the ball in Nashville. With McNair behind center, opposing teams won't be able to stack the box and focus on RB Jamal Lewis. McNair will also reunite with WR Derrick Mason.
McNair will move the chains more often and rest the defense. This one looks like a win for Baltimore as long as McNair can stay healthy. Otherwise, the Ravens are going to be all too familiar with the same mediocre offense.
Another similar scenario played out in Indianapolis. RB Edgerrin James was looking for his big deal. QB Peyton Manning got his, WR Marvin Harrison got his. WR Reggie Wayne got his. James kept waiting, but it didn't happen.
The Colts have had a pretty good run with their version of The Triplets.
But, if there is to be a Super Bowl in the Colt trophy case, it will go to The Twins.
The Colts were pretty successful in locking up their offense, but the money had to run out sometime. And it ran out before James got his long-term big money deal.
It seems like a real risk in letting a back like James go, but the Colts also let a guy called Marshall Faulk a few years ago.
That move worked out really well for Faulk. The Colts haven't won their championship, but James was certainly a great replacement for Faulk.
Can lightning strike twice for the Colts? Can they replace Edgerrin James as easily? The Colts think so as they drafted Joseph Addai from LSU in the first round of the draft.
The next question is how well will James do in the desert? Normally, big-name players who move to Phoenix are winding down their careers and just looking to pad their statistics while playing for an organization looking to sell tickets (see Emmitt Smith).
But James has more than one or two years left in the tank. With QBs Kurt Warner and Matt Leinart and WR tandem of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals may actually be building.
Can James be the same dominant back playing for a team known for losing? Coach Dennis Green thinks so and the fans hope to finally see a consistent winner in the desert.
Some players can't come to terms with their team and move on because they don't have a contract.
Some players have a contract with their team, but the team wants to restructure and the player moves on because he can't come to terms on restructuring.
And some players have a perfectly good contract and gripe so much about it that they become a cancer on the team, insult the starting QB, refuse to talk to coaches, and ... okay, one guy did all that.
If you are even a casual football fan, you know the story of Terrell Owens.
Complain about your coach and QB in San Francisco. Complain about your coach and QB in Philadelphia. What is next in Dallas? It's hard to believe that it can't play out any other way.
The Owens honeymoon may last a year. Maybe Owens doesn't complain about head coach Bill Parcells this year.
Maybe he doesn't make noise about QB Drew Bledsoe holding onto the ball too long and getting sacked instead of throwing it to him this year.
But isn't it just a matter of time before this all blows up?
Every year, several people expect Parcells to retire (again). He has returned to coach the Cowboys the last couple of years, but that won't last.
Rumors are that Parcells didn't want Owens, owner Jerry Jones did. If that is the case, can this be The Tuna's last year in Big D?
And if it is, what coach can keep Owens focused on football instead of himself?
There seem to be more questions than answers in Dallas and that is what makes the preseason great.
While there were more than three players who changed teams for the upcoming season, these three are among the biggest stories. There are so many more questions than answers and no one knows what is going to happen between now and February.
But isn't it great to pretend you have the answers?
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