[Chief Rum]

Day Four

Big Signings

ILB Al Wilson signs with the Chargers The Chargers failed to land former Denver OLB Ian Gold, so they just threw money at Wilson instead. Wilson, the #2 LB, is the premier LB remaining in this free agent class, and his departure to the Bolts officially makes this a really bad offseason for the Broncos. They probably went from one of the best to one of the worst linebacker crews in just a few days. Wilson got a very nice deal, signing for $37.88/5 years. As no one but San Diego made an offer to him, it appears that Lance Burns, who got Manning his top deal with no competitors, struck again.

G Cosey Coleman signs with the Texans Houston lands their first big free agent this year when they outbid several teams for the rights to the #2 free agent G Coleman. Coleman, a former Bucc, got some very nice offers, none better than Houston's ($42.88 M/6 years). Tampa Bay made no effort to retain Coleman, who chose the Texans' offer over offers from the Falcons, Lions, Panthers and Jets.

WR Tai Streets signs with the Ravens With pretty much the entire receiving unit hitting the road for free agency in Baltimore, wide receiver was a big need for the Ravens. They are definitely moving in the right direction with the #2 available WR in Tai Streets. Streets will get the opportunity to be the number one receiver in Baltimore, outside of the shadow of Terrell Owens in his old home of San Francisco. Streets signed for a cheap $1.70 M/2 years, but it seems that receivers are signing for low deals this free agency. No one else made an offer to Streets.

S David Terrell re-signs with the Skins After the signing of Roman, it is somewhat of a surprise that the Skins still soguht to rbing back #1 S Terrell, and over the offers of other teams as well. By bringing back Terrell, the Skins are doubtlessly even better off in the secondary now than they were last year, despite the loss of Champ Bailey. Terrell signed a $19.90 M/6-year deal to return to Washington, and he actually turned down an offer from Jacksonville that was significantly better per year than what he agreed to. The Vikings and Saints also missed out.

K Matt Stover signs with the Bills Stover is the second of the top four kickers that were available in this class to sign, and also the second to leave his old team. Stover, who also happens to be the #2 K, joins the already departed Akers for another team, leaving behind the Ravens. Stover signed a $3.763 M/3-year deal, and the Bills were the only team that offered him.

K John Kasay signs with the Cowboys Kasay is the top kicker in this free agent class, so the combination of his and Stover's signings makes this position quite a bit less top-heavy. Unlike Stover and Akers, Kasay had some competition for his services, though. He accepted the Boys' offer over lesser offers from the Lions and Texans. He signed for $6.32 M/4 years. Last year, Kasay kicked for the Panthers.

DT Chester McGlockton signs with the Falcons First the Falcons got a big time corner in Champ Bailey. Now they add some size up front. McGlockton, the #5 DT and the highest rated free agent DT left remaining not named Sapp, could be a key addition for Atlanta, which was really bad on defense last year. McGlockton, who played with the lowly Jets last year, signed for $4.94 M/2 years, and had no offers outside of Atlanta's.

TE Fred Baxter signs with the Skins The Skins failed to land Dunn before he went to the Bills, so they reset their sights for #2 TE Baxter. This time, they made it work. And the Pats lose yet another key free agent, this time on offense. Baxcter signed a lucrative $8.13 M/3 year deal, despite having no other offers when he signed with Washington. Jimmy Conway was the agent on this one. Conway is the second highest ranked agent in the game, bvehind only Wayne. The top two TE are now off the market.

T Vaughn Parker signs with the Steelers The world champs added a solid lineman to an already powerful offense. After the top super-duo of Pace and Jones, Parker was rated as the best of the rest, although he didn't have a great year witht he Chargers last year. That didn't stop the Steelers from offering him a $9.21 M/3-year deal. Pittsburgh was the only team that had an offer on Parker.

DT Warren Sapp signs with the Jets WTF? Okay, so the top inside linebacker goes to the Browns, and now the Jets get Sapp? Sapp was clearly the top DT available in free agency, and one of the very few remaining real difference makers in this class. I don't think the Jets will be missing the departed McGlockton too much. This is a definite upgrade. Of course, does Sapps' arrival make up for the loss of both McGlockton and Mo Lewis at LB? That might be another story altogether. In any case, the Jets signed Sapp to a $19.26 M/4-year contract, and did it over the offers of several other teams. The Ravens were the only team to make a similar offer, as the only team with four years on the table. The Bengals, Broncos, Steelers and Texans all had variations of three-year contracts on the table for the locquacious Sapp. The Buccs didn't make a single effort to keep a guy whom had been practically the team identity for a decade and a Super Bowl champ.

NOTES FROM DAY FOUR

This was the first day I didn't sign anyone, although I still have plenty of offers out there, mostly with leads.

The pickings are getting slim at many positions, especially for the elite players. There are still a lot of players in the middle ground, though, where they are solid, above-average players. There's still a long way to go here.

CR