Make that "Father Knows Best," but for the purposes of today's blog, let's just switch it up a bit.
On Thursday, the Denver Broncos signed their second "Bailey" but neither one of them has ever been on "Party Of Five.'
They already had one of the game's best players in cornerback Champ Bailey. Other than his $4.1 million guarantee, there are no guarantees about the performance the Broncos will get from his brother, Boss.
They gave him a deal that in total is five years in length and worth $20.5 million and if Boss can be half as good as Champ, it will be worth it.
As we can agree--maybe even Coach Mike Shanahan does too--their previous dips into the defensive line/linebacker free agent pool have been icy and in shallow water at best.
The Broncos said they were going to be light spenders in free agency this season, after a less than stellar foray into that arena a year ago. Even still, Shanahan has always been one to make the bold move, so it wouldn't surprise me if something still occurred.
They may be living up to their word on free agent spending, though. After all, they have committed "only" $20.5 million to Bailey and $7 million to wide receiver Keary Colbert. They also signed John Lynch to a one-year deal, with a big cut in salary. In comparison, the Jets have signed also three players of note, however, their total contract amounts hover at close to $107 million.
Will admit the Jets were 3-13 last season, while the Broncos were 7-9. Then again, without Jason Elam, the Broncos could have been much closer to the Jets record-wise than they were to the postseason. That being said, the question remains: Why is Elam still a free agent?
One thing is sure: If they have chosen to not be a major player in free agency, they must do well in the NFL Draft. However, the team's mistakes there are the reason they were 7-9 last season. The statistic has been dished out several times, so what's once more? The team has one player remaining from their selections from 2001-2004. The only one that remains is linebacker D.J. Williams.
The ability to efficiently build through the NFL Draft is a proven way to succeed; Indianapolis and New England have won Super Bowls doing it, and the team the Broncos are looking up at in the AFC West hierarchy--the Chargers--may be as good as anyone in evaluating college talent. Finding talent through the NFL Draft is also cheaper. Draft mistakes are easier to overcome than free agent missteps from both a personnel and financial viewpoint. So while the Broncos have withstood the urge to spend in March, they now would rather select players in April, and they can only hope that it pays off next February.
Have a nice weekend.
-"z"
