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It's sort of like going into a top-tier electronics store late on the Friday after Thanksgiving. You look around for something good, and then it smacks you in the face:
The place has been picked clean.
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| Bryant Johnson looks ready to break out at 26. (Getty Images) |
There isn't much.
Forget Pacman Jones. NFL teams made it rain, and the free agents gladly played the role of stripper. Let's just say a lot of marginal players got rich -- quickly.
But that doesn't mean there still aren't good players available. And unlike those who went in the first-week orgy we just witnessed, these players might actually come at a decent price.
Smart personnel men will step right on up now and make their moves.
One of the more perplexing players still left on the market is Arizona Cardinals receiver Bryant Johnson. At 26, he is coming off his best season, but the Cardinals have cap issues with the contract of Larry Fitzgerald taking $14.6 million in cap room, which is why they haven't been able to re-sign Johnson.
The Cardinals would like to bring Johnson back, but they can't with Fitzgerald's contract being so great. So why hasn't another team jumped in?
As the third receiver in Arizona, he was stuck playing behind Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, but he did get eight starts last year and caught a career-high 46 passes. At 6-3, 213 pounds, the former first-round pick has good size and good speed.
The Buffalo Bills, desperate for an improvement opposite Lee Evans, brought him in for a visit Monday and it appeared they might be on their way to signing him. But that hasn't happened yet and other teams have interest, including Tampa Bay and Washington.
He's the perfect free agent. A rising player who is only 26 years old who just needs a chance to start.
It's amazing that he's on the market. Price could be a factor. We've seen some outrageous receiver dollars thrown around, including the reported six-year, $55 million deal that included $16 million in guaranteed money the Oakland Raiders paid to Javon Walker.
