Winning NFL Free Agency Doesn’t Always Guarantee Long-Term Success

If an NFL team finds itself in the “losers” column of one of countless NFL free agency winners and losers stories, that might actually be a good thing.

NFL free agency got off to a rousing start last week, as a flurry of moves went down just as the league’s 2015 season opened for business. Plenty of teams went out and got themselves some nice new toys with the hopes of rebuilding on the fly and getting right back into contention.

However, it doesn’t always work that way. The 2014 class showed plenty of promise, but for a handful of teams making big splashes, the plan backfired. Former NFL linebacker Matt Chatham at FootballByFootball.com looked back at some of the biggest signings of last year’s free-agent class, and it’s clear that “winning” free agency doesn’t always equate to winning where it matters — on the field.

“2014 was a historically bad year for jumping in early on the big-money free agency contracts that made teams ‘winners’ of imaginary free agency crowns,” he wrote. “Somehow, not racing to the front this season and retracing the steps that rarely work is ‘losing.’ Welcome to the insanity of the NFL.”