Danno

I know this staff has taken heat for free-agent moves but I noticed that 13 of our 22 starters are free agents. That kinda surprised me.
So I made a little list of hits and misses. After looking at it I think this staff is better than most think.
FREE-AGENT HITS:
J. Horn
A. Brooks
B. Williams
S. Folau
K. Jacox
V. Riley
J. Carney
J. Pathon
M. Lewis
W. Gandy
F. McAfee
_____________
W. Whitehead
F. Thomas
J. Bellamy
D. Smith
D. Rogers
O. Ruff
M. Chase (wish we had kept him now)
S Gleason (for ST only)

FREE AGENT MISSES:
N. Hand (a hit his 1st year though)
G. Jackson
A. Connell (top bust)
D. Sloan
C. Keaton
D. Carter
H. Ford (although he was always just back-up insurance)

JURY STILL OUT:
T. Jones (big salary puts him here)
E. Conwell (mostly a hit, but time will tell)
A. Ambrose (debatable, could also be considered a hit)
Z. Hilton (has more hit potential than miss)
F. Brown (cheap guy may still develop, Hawthorne w/out the attitude)

Anyone care to add someone?

BillyC

17 Berger, Mitch P 6-4 220 31 9 Colorado -- One of the best.
4 Bouman, Todd QB 6-2 229 31 6 St. Cloud State -- Reliable backup.
62 Fontenot, Jerry C 6-3 300 37 15 Texas A&M -- Solid

JKool

Hey Danno.

I\'m with you, but here is something to consider in this evaluation: even if we have quite a few \"hits\" in FA, there is a second question - do we have a \"hit\" when we could have got someone better than the guy who has turned out well. By this I mean, it is hard to label someone a \"hit\" when we could have got someone even better. That doesn\'t take away from your central idea, that we have got many solid, perhaps even great players, through FA; however, it does cast doubt on how well the staff has done in FA.

I think the jury is still out on Ruff. And, just wondering on this one, even though we reacquired McAfee by FA, didn\'t we draft him back in the day?

"... I was beating them with my eyes the whole game..." - Aaron Brooks

Danno

Valid points. Yes we originally did draft Freddy. Not a good draft choice (but that was Mora) We re-signed him a s a free-agent for Special teams. A solid pick up.
Kinda strange, I think we acquire better than we draft, and he\'s proof of both.
Its impossible to tell if we could have done better by bringing someone else in. Too many variables.
Example: If we had convinced Spikes to sign with us, it would have cost us plenty. Maybe too much to re-sign Darren Howard next year. Maybe maybe not. But the dynamics are too intricate to play hindsight. We\'ve done pretty well I think.
I\'d rather have Ruff and Howard than Spikes and no Howard.

[Edited on 17/12/2003 by Danno]

JKool

I agree that keeping Howard is a reasonable trade off for Ruff over Spikes. Good point.

If it is so difficult to say who would \"fit\", since there are too many variables, isn\'t the reasonable conclusion that we cannot evaluate FA signings or drafts with any real meaning?