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Now that the draft and minicamps are complete and the opening of training camps is less than three months away -- can you believe it? -- it's time to look back at some key moves since the Patriots won the Super Bowl.
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| Randy Moss is the catch of the offseason. (AP) |
Some are player moves, some coaching moves. All should impact their teams either this year or down the road.
The Oakland Raiders trading for Randy Moss will provide immediate results. The Miami Dolphins' hiring of Nick Saban will be a move that will take time to see results; cleaning up the mess down there is a tough task.
Both, though, make our list of 10 offseason moves list -- top it, in fact. Moss is the most-electrifying receiver in the game, while Saban will use his stern, disciplined ways to turn the Dolphins' franchise around.
Neither will win many popularity contests. Moss alienates teammates and fans and Saban rubs the media the wrong way and scares the heck out of his players.
But that matters little when grading offseason moves. The object is to win football games, and these are two moves, like the other eight listed here, that will make that happen for their teams.
The 10 best offseason moves:
1. Randy Moss to the Raiders
Let's forget for a minute that Moss has some attitude issues and can be a jerk off the field. He's a player, a great one. Moss is the best receiver in the league when he wants to be, a deep threat who can't be handled one-on-one.
The Raiders, particularly quarterback Kerry Collins, will love Moss. He will stretch the defense the way Al Davis wants it stretched.
Raiders personnel man Mike Lombardi deserves loads of credit for pulling off this trade. With Moss, the Raiders are contenders in the AFC West. Without him, they're 8-8, at best.
2. Dolphins hiring Nick Saban
Nick Saban is not the kind of coach who will make friends, particularly not with the media. He is demanding, standoffish, and has had people dislike him at many of his coaching stops.
But the guy can coach. Don't ever forget that, or let his media policies overshadow the reason the Dolphins hired him.
It will take time to turn things around in Miami, but Saban, who comes in from LSU, is the right guy to make it happen. He is diligent, will work tirelessly, and brings the demeanor teams need in the locker room, a disciplined approach that will keep players focused.
Party time is over in Miami.
Saban also did a smart thing by hiring offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, one of the best in the game.
3. Quarterback Kurt Warner to the Cardinals
The perception is that Kurt Warner is done. They say he can no longer stand in and face the rush, and can't make all the throws as he did back in his MVP days with the Rams.
Forget that. If given protection, which he didn't have last year with the Giants, Warner can still be an effective passer.
Arizona plans to use a lot of three-receiver sets with an outstanding pass-catching group, something Warner had when he won his MVPs with the Rams. That will help him a lot.
Warner wasn't playing that bad when he was benched last year. He was completing 62.4 percent of his passes and had six touchdown passes to four interceptions. He had 24 pass plays of 20 yards or more, which shows he still has the ability to get the ball down the field.
Warner makes the Cardinals a threat to win the NFC West, which is a down division.
4. Cleveland hiring general manager Phil Savage
The NFL has moved too much away from football people running teams to corporate types.
Savage is a throwback.
He cut his teeth as a scout, a down-and-dirty, travel-the-country scout who helped make the Baltimore Ravens one of the best-drafting teams in the league.
Savage brings that scouting acumen to a Cleveland organization in dire need of it. Savage will make sure new coach Romeo Crennel has players. It will take some time, but Savage has already done a heck of a job cleaning out a lot of the dead weight left behind from the Butch Davis fiasco.
Davis and his cronies were terrible in the personnel department. Savage will excel. You can never go wrong with a football guy running your team.
5. Jacksonville signing DE Reggie Hayward
The Jaguars were ranked 11th in the league in total defense last season, despite not having a pass-rush force of note.
Somehow, defensive coordinator Mike Smith was able to manufacture a pass rush that ended up with 37 sacks. He did so with linebackers playing end, which won't work for the long haul.
That's why Hayward, a 26-year-old pass rusher, was signed away from Denver as a free agent. Playing next to tackles Marcus Stroud and John Henderson, Hayward should flourish as an edge rusher.
Hayward had 10 1/2 sacks last year, and 8 1/2 the year before. He put up the 10 1/2 last year, despite being dropped into coverage occasionally in the Denver zone-blitz scheme.
In Jacksonville, he will be going forward the whole time, which could make him a 15-sack player. If he gets there, he'll be going to the Pro Bowl and the Jaguars might be going to that other Bowl.
6. Receiver Plaxico Burress signing with the Giants
19.9.
That number stands out when talking about Burress. It's his yards-per-catch average from 2004 with the Steelers.
Burress was limited by injuries last year, but he had 35 catches for 698 yards and five touchdowns in 11 games. He had 13 catches for 20 or more yards and four for 40 or more, which helped that per-catch average.
Burress can get deep. The Giants needed that in their offense, and Burress will become Eli Manning's go-to receiver.
The Steelers put out the word this spring that Burress wasn't a great guy to have in their locker room. That won't be a problem under Tom Coughlin. The big-play ability of Burress will prove to be a heck of a value for the Giants.
7. Mike Heimerdinger to the Jets as offensive coordinator
The Jets' offense wasn't very good under former coordinator Paul Hackett, who took a beating in the New York media. Heimerdinger will change that.
He's an innovative offensive mind who helped convince Titans coach Jeff Fisher to loosen things up and allow Steve McNair to throw it more. The result was a co-MVP season for McNair in 2003.
Heimerdinger is a no-nonsense coach who will jump his players when things don't go right. That didn't always sit well with McNair, who was said to be happy when Dinger left.
Heimerdinger's goal this year will be to get more creativity into a Jets offense that lacked it last year when it finished 17th in the league in scoring. With Chad Pennington at quarterback, Heimerdinger has a smart passer who should grow in this system.
Predictability will not be a word thrown around when talking about the Jets' offense anymore.
8. Quarterback Drew Bledsoe to the Cowboys
Laugh all you want, this is a good move.
The Cowboys did not have a quarterback who could take them back to the playoffs, so getting a veteran was a must.
Is Bledsoe the same player he was when Bill Parcells coached him with the Patriots? No. Did he have trouble moments in Buffalo the past three seasons? You bet.
But he's still an accomplished pocket passer who can get the ball down the field. The key is protection. The Cowboys have to keep people off him. If they can, he will put up some numbers.
This is a move that was worth the risk for the Cowboys. They had no chance to be a playoff team with Drew Henson.
9. Jim Fassel named offensive coordinator of the Ravens
The Ravens offensive system has been a joke the past couple of seasons. It was pitch left, pitch right and then ask the quarterback to make a play on third down.
That put far too much pressure on Kyle Boller. It also didn't give him the freedom to have success throwing the football.
So the Ravens let go of Matt Cavanaugh, a move many in the building expected for a long time, and replaced him with Fassel, the former Giants coach.
Fassel was a darn good coordinator with both Arizona and Denver before becoming the head coach of the Giants. He took chances. He called outstanding games.
The Ravens now get all of that. His offensive acumen will help make Boller a better player. For once, the handcuffs should come off -- something that needed to happen.
If the Ravens can get to a Super Bowl -- something that is certainly possible with that defense -- then Fassel will once again be on the top of those head-coaching lists, which is what he wants.
10. Jim Bates named defensive coordinator of the Packers
Green Bay made a major mistake letting Ed Donatell walk after the 2003 season. Their defense was awful last season under Bob Slowik.
Bates will change that.
Like Slowik, he still doesn't have great material to work with, but Bates will get the most out of it. He did a heck of a job with the Dolphins defense when he was the coordinator down there, molding it into one of the best in football.
Bates also had success as the interim head coach of the Dolphins last year after Dave Wannstedt was fired. He led the Dolphins to an upset of the Patriots.
The players seemed to respond to him, and they will in Green Bay, too. If the Packers don't make big improvements on defense, it will be a major shock.