Good to know Dallas has all their ducks in a row!

[IowaSkinsFan]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/cowboys/gosselin/stories/080803dnspogosselin.26faf.html


Obviously, since they have been doing so well the last three years!

[IowaSkinsFan]

Here's the story so you don't have to register at that site:

The author's email address is at the bottom of the article, I suggest we all keep it handy for later in the season.

ASHBURN, Va. – Dan Snyder has deep pockets.

Deep enough to spend an NFL-record $800 million to buy a franchise (the Washington Redskins). Deep enough to spend an NFL-record $25 million on a top-flight coach (Steve Spurrier).

But are his pockets deep enough to buy a championship?

His Redskins were again the NFL's biggest spenders this off-season, signing 11 veteran free agents and awarding them $32.2 million in signing bonuses.

In 2000, his initial off-season as owner of the Redskins, Snyder made his first bid to buy a championship. His Redskins were coming off a 10-6 season and an NFC East title, and Snyder felt he could nudge his team over the top by signing four marquee performers.

Two of them were future Hall of Famers, cornerback Deion Sanders and defensive end Bruce Smith, and the others were Pro Bowl safety Mark Carrier and quarterback Jeff George. Snyder gave them a combined $17.25 million in signing bonuses, including $8 million to Sanders. But the Redskins regressed to 8-8, and coach Norv Turner was fired.

One year and another coach later, Snyder again became an ATM owner. He gave Pro Bowl linebacker Jeremiah Trotter a $7 million signing bonus and doled out another $4.75 million in bonuses to veteran defensive starters Jessie Armstead and Renaldo Wynn.

Again the team regressed, finishing 7-9 in Spurrier's first season as coach in 2002. Snyder reacted to his first losing season as an NFL owner in predictable fashion: He threw even more money at the problem.

"We weren't quite as talented as I thought," said Spurrier of his inaugural season. "Fortunately, our owner agreed we needed to find better players – so he went out and got them.

"When you're struggling, you either go get another coach or get better players. Dallas went out and got another coach. We went out and got better players."

The 32 NFL teams issued signing bonuses in excess of $2 million to 33 players in free agency this off-season. Snyder wrote the checks to four of them.

Wide receiver Laveranues Coles collected $13 million, guard Randy Thomas $7 million, kick returner Chad Morton $2.5 million and defensive end Regan Upshaw $2 million. Another four free agents received signing bonuses in excess of $1 million from Snyder.

"We had a lot of needs," said Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins' vice president of football operations. "But we pumped money into young football players, guys on the cusp of their prime. We didn't pump it into guys with just one year left. We gave it to guys who can finish out their careers.

"Part of our philosophy was let's not sign any one-and-dones. Let's get guys who can add to the nucleus and build around it."

But free agents aren't adding to the nucleus in Washington. They are becoming the nucleus. Eleven starters, half of the projected lineup in 2003, are free agents. That's a staggering amount in a salary-cap world. Only nine draft picks, the traditional building block for NFL success, pencil in as starters.

Free agency has been around the NFL for 10 years now, and it hasn't proven to be the salvation for struggling franchises. You can count on two hands the number of free agents who played to the level of the money and the duration of the contracts. Reggie White, Curtis Martin, Marcus Allen, Rich Gannon and Ken Norton are among the most prominent. The list falls off dramatically from there.

Most teams have figured out the system: Draft well, then spend your salary-cap dollars in-house to keep your own players. Teams have learned you don't build around mercenaries.

In free agency, teams tend to overspend on players. Then when those expensive free agents don't finish out their contracts – Sanders lasted just one year of his seven-year deal – teams enter cap jail.

So, many teams have backed out of high-stakes free agency. The New York Giants, one of the teams the Redskins are chasing in the NFC East, added six veteran free agents last off-season, paying out a mere $2.2 million in signing bonuses.

The Philadelphia Eagles, another team ahead of the Redskins in the East, added three veteran free agents, paying out just $3.18 million in signing bonuses.

In the NFL, you build champions, not buy them. There are no shortcuts to success. The sooner Snyder realizes that, the sooner his Redskins will become contenders.

E-mail rgosselin@dallasnews.com

[camasterton]

Just like w/ most journalists, the facts get in the way of the story so why bother. His point (lessness) about "buying" and free agency not working, tell that to World Champion Tampa Bay. Thier Offensive MVP- Free Agent Brad Johnson, thier best DE- Pro-Bowler/Free Agent Simeon Rice, Thier best RB-Free Agent Michael Pitman, thier best O-lineman-Free Agent Jeff Christy, thier best WR-Free Agent Keyshawn Johnson. There are a lot of signing bonus/salary dollars and draft picks, spent on just these few of TBs Free Agent buys! Thier Head Coach cost them two 1st rounders, two 2nd rounders not to mention his salary. Reciting New England's, the previous World Champion's Free Agent pickups (which are universaly credited for thier success) would give you a similar picture. So shut up ya stupid!

[RedskinsDave]

I can't wait for all the additions to pan out this year and the new thing around the league will be to pillage other team's restricted free agents.

[Hailyeah]

Good point about TB, cam. That says it all to negate the premise of the article.

The author skipped over the Schottenheimer year when the roster salaries were cut down dramatically. Deion was a FA once upon a time for them at a high cost. Not every team can pull a Hershel Walker trade and have many of these picks go on to become great players. There is no denying that Dallas went to the top through the draft in the early 1990s. So what, there are many roads to the promise land.