[Chief Rum]

Day Six

Big Signings

P Dan Stryzinski signs with the Broncos After losing two of the top linebackers int he league, you have to consider signing a punter to be a bit of a whimper for Denver. Still, if you need a punter... Stryzinski was the #4 free agent P and the second-best remaining at the position. He signed a $1.71 M/2-year contract. Stryzinski was not being sought after by any other teams, inclduing his former Jets.

S Victor Green signs with the Raiders Little by little, the Raiders are taking care of business and trying to get back some of the star power they have lost. QB and CB remain question marks, but the Green signing will at least give them a competent replacement for the retired Rod Woodson. Green, the #7 free agent S, signed for $3.11 M/3 years. Last year, he played with the Saints, who did not make him an offer. Green chose the Oakland offer over a lesser offer from the Chiefs.

K Doug Brien signs with the Texans Brien was the last of the top four kickers who were above and beyond the rest of this free agent class's specialists. Brien was the #3 kicker, and played for the Jets last year. Brien signed a $5.46 M/3-year deal with Houston, rejecting a cheaper offer from the Skins.

QB Mark Brunell signs with the Steelers In some ways, this move is a big risk, and in other ways, the Steelers are improving the position. This is what happens when a player tremendously overachieveslike Maddox did last year. He is still out there, waiting for a contract to sign, while the Steelers instead offered their contract to the best remaining QB out there--Brunell, who didn't even start for the Jags last year. Brunell, a distant #2 at QB behind Manning, agreed to a $3.90 M/2-year deal to take over the job under center for the world champs. In real life, this would be huge news, of course. Furthermore, Brunell did not have an offer from anyone else when he signed with Pittsburgh.

DT Brentson Buckner signs with the Texans What is more surprising? That Buckner, the #9 free agent DT, didn't start for the defensively-strapped Panthers, or that the Panthers had the tackles to put Buckner on the bench, and still performed very poorly on defense? Regardless, Buckner will get the opportunity to show his stuff as a starter for the Texans, after he signed a $2.29 M/2-year contract. He was only pursued bu Houston.

ILB Bernardo Harris signs with the Seahawks While Seahawks fans breathe a sigh of relief as the team ends a bad run of free agent losses that saw six starters, including five on defense, leave, I am stunned to wonder at the incredible amount of influence in Harris, a decent linebacker to be sure, but certainly not expected to be the top free agent in terms of interest. Nonetheless, Harris received no less than 12 total offers as the top remaining ILB in this class, #3 overall to begin with. He was ranked much lower than the top guys in Wilson and Godfrey (whom he will be replacing in Seattle), but he was the best of the mediocre bunch that followed them. The former Raven took the money, as the Seahawks offered him the best deal at $2.21 M/2 years. Every single one of the other offers was for two years and varied from $1.64 M to $2.17 M. The next best offers came from Jacksonville, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The Ravens did not make an offer to retain Harris. Harris, who split time with the Ravens, should be an important cog for the Seahawks, whose defense is looking much more suspect now with all their losses.

Other Signings

The Falcons signed S Doug Evans away from Seattle for $2.96 M/3 years.

NOTES FROM DAY SIX

I really have nothing to add at this point. The Harris and Brunell deals were eye openers, but I have already talked about those at length.

The day was unexciting for the Cards, which didn't receive any signatures. It was sometime around here that I started getting topped for G Matt Stinchcomb, on whom I had been leading for most of the way. As there were precious few good guards available, I was trying to land Stinchcomb, so I did increase my offers to try and stay on top, unlike how I handled Tait.

CR