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Free agent season is starting to resemble one of those church flea markets where elderly women in plastic rain scarves rummage through cardboard boxes full of stuff that somebody else didn't want, in the hopes of finding something valuable.

I mean, can't you just see Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo yelling, "Look what I found! A perfectly good Kordell Stewart! It's hardly even used!" Of course, the words "perfectly good" and "Kordell Stewart" probably qualify as a contradiction, but Bears fans will discover that fact soon enough.

For players who might be one team's trash, but haven't yet become anyone's treasure, free agency is especially cruel, especially for established players just a little past their prime.

Isn't Emmitt Smith the quintessential Cowboy? Uh, well ... not anymore.

And how about Junior Seau, the thumping organ within San Diego's collective chest? He's scheduled to be transplanted.

For Seau, the question's no longer, "What have you done for me lately?" Now, it's "Oh, you made the Pro Bowl again, Junior? That's nice, but what do you plan to do next?"

Last month, Mark Madden, a sports talk host for Pittsburgh's ESPN Radio, reported that unnamed sources within the Steelers organization that Mark Bruener, regarded as the best blocking tight end in football, would be cut before Pittsburgh goes to training camp in July.

That ought to make things good and tense during Bruener's weekly appearances on Madden's show.

Officially, Steelers' coach Bill Cowher has said the team will examine its tight end situation after the draft.

With free agency and a salary cap, it's no longer enough to be good. Today, a player's value to his team has to equal how much salary cap space he eats up.

If the scale goes out of balance, the player is headed for the flea market.

And that's great. It works out for the players, the teams, and the league. Everybody wins with free agency.

The Cardinals have been one of the most active teams this free agent season, by signing seven players -- led by Smith, quarterback Jeff Blake from Baltimore, and free safety Dexter Jackson, the Super Bowl MVP -- from other teams. At times, it has seemed like the Cardinals have signed every prominent free agent except for Jake Plummer and David Boston. And those guys were headed in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately for all those new Cardinals, Arizona also signed six of their own free agents. Just about the only thing more inconceivable than a 5-11 team re-signing six of its own players is the Detroit Lions, 3-13 in 2002, re-signing a league-high eight of its own players.

Washington hasn't been messing around, which is predictable if only because Washington has never messed around in free agency. The Redskins have signed nine players from other teams, a list led by former Jet Laveraneus Coles and quarterback Rob Johnson.

While teams still can't buy a Super Bowl, because football teams are rarely equal to the sum of their parts -- they're either worth more or less than that -- but free agency provides a way to fill in the final pieces of a championship contender.

And winning is the ultimate salve for fans who complain when a popular player, like Bruener, for example, leaves because his style no longer meshes with his team's personality.

Bruener, who has missed the Steelers' last two playoff runs with knee injuries, became expendable when Pittsburgh signed Jay Riemersma, regarded as a better receiving tight end, from Buffalo. In Pittsburgh's new Tommy Maddox-led passing attack, paying a premium salary for a run-blocking tight end would be a little bit like picking a Playboy centerfold for her personality.

But on a team that relies a little more on a power running game, like Miami or New Orleans, the soon-to-be ex-Steelers' tight end would be a perfect fit.

For Smith, who signed with the Arizona Cardinals, things could go even better. He reportedly wants an opportunity to pad his career rushing total, already the largest in NFL history.

The Cards, one of the league's few teams that don't sell-out every home game, need a drawing card. A future Hall of Famer should fit the bill nicely.

Seau, who is, like Smith, a future Canton enshrinee, has an even greater opportunity. He has money, fame, respect -- everything a professional football player could ask for, except a Super Bowl ring. And by the time San Diego is ready to contend again, he'll be cashing pension checks.

Because of free agency, Seau will soon be able to shop for a team that will be able to get him that ring in the twilight of his career. In return, he could offer his services at a reduced rate in return for being a crucial part of a championship team.

The teams benefit by freeing up space under the salary cap so they can sign their own treasures and sign other teams' trash.

For the league, there is year-round interest in the league as teams attempt to become next year's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were last year's New England Patriots, who were the previous year's Baltimore Ravens, who were the St. Louis Rams' from the year before that.

In the age of free agency, any team -- except Cincinnati and Arizona -- are only a few shrewd personnel moves from a Super Bowl appearance. And that gives the fans something to be excited about.

Football has become what baseball used to be, the national past time.

Because of free agency and the salary cap, on opening day, every NFL team has a chance to win, which is something else people used to say about baseball.

Every team, that is, except Cincinnati and Arizona.

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