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The free agency pool: NFC North
Cold, Hard Football Facts for March 18, 2007
Testing the waters
How NFL teams are flowing as the clock ticks toward draft day
Today: NFC North
By the Cold, Hard Football Facts staff
The way we see it, there are only three ways things can unfold once a team jumps into the pigskin pool that is the free-agency period.
Teams are either sinking ...
... treading water, or they're
... swimming away from the competition.
We'll judge each NFL team here, today focusing on the NFC North ...
Put your flippers on!
NFC NORTH:
CHICAGO (last year's record: 13-3)
How they ranked in 2006
|
Total O |
Score O |
Rush O |
Pass O |
Total D |
Score D |
Rush D |
Pass D | |
16 |
2 |
15 |
5 |
5 |
3 |
6 |
11 |
Free agents signed: None
Free agents lost:
S Cameron Worrell (
Miami)
S Todd Johnson (
St. Louis)
Free-agency status: Sinking
 Things were pretty cut and dry for the Bears in 2006. They had a defense and special teams good enough to win the NFC title, and an offense good enough to watch the defense and special teams win the NFC title.
Improving the offense should be a pretty obvious goal for the Bears, but so far their only move has been to trade starting RB Thomas Jones away for the right to move up in the second round of the draft. That leaves them with Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson in the backfield.
Hmm. In addition, they pissed off OLB extraordinaire Lance Briggs enough with a franchise tag that Briggs has vowed never to play for Chicago again. He might change his tune come August, but for now Chicago's offseason has been a disaster.
Oh, and Tank Johnson will be spending the offseason in jail. Also not good.
The Bears haven't lost any big free agents, but they also haven't done anything to fix the offense. With Rex Grossman and Brian Griese the only options at QB, the Bears had better hope their defense comes back bigger and stronger than ever.
It'll need to be.
GREEN BAY (8-8)
2006 rankings
|
Total O |
Score O |
Rush O |
Pass O |
Total D |
Score D |
Rush D |
Pass D | |
14 |
22 |
23 |
9 |
12 |
25 |
13 |
17 |
Free agent signed:
CB Frank Walker (N.Y. Giants) 
C Tyson Walter (re-signed)
LB Tracy White (re-signed))
Free agents lost:
RB Ahman Green (Houston)
TE David Martin (Miami)
Free-agency status: Sinking
 Green Bay's biggest move so far this offseason exists only in the unreliable ether of Rumorville -- a trade for WR Randy Moss. While the addition of Moss would certainly bring a new dimension to the Packers offense (assuming, and this is a big one, that Moss returns to form), it wouldn't exactly fix all of Green Bay's ills.
Starting tailback Ahman Green (gone to Houston) averaged just 4.0 yards per carry last year and is 30. But none of the other tailbacks in the league who have changed addresses have wound up in Green Bay. Either the Pack really liked what they saw from Vernand Morency (421 yards, 4.6 average), or they'll be one of the main movers for RBs on Draught Day. Backup TE David Martin was also a loss, although the Packers still have Bubba Franks and Donald Lee at the position.
Green Bay's defense showed flashes of decency last year, ranking well on the defensive line and in the secondary (as measured by defensive passer rating). But they were a bend-then-break bunch, ranking 29th in our Bendability Index. Fixing the inability to keep people out of the end zone is not an easy task, but it's safe to say that adding a nickel back like Frank Walker (five INTs in four NFL seasons) isn't going to do it.
|
Total O |
Score O |
Rush O |
Pass O |
Total D |
Score D |
Rush D |
Pass D | |
17 |
21 |
32 |
5 |
28 |
30 |
21 |
25 |
Free agents signed:
RB T.J. Duckett (Washington)
CB Travis Fisher (St. Louis)
DE DeWayne White (Tampa Bay)
CB Aveion Cason (re-signed)
DE Corey Smith (re-signed)
Free agents lost:
S Terrence Holt (Arizona)
FB Cory Schlesinger (Miami)
Free-agency status: Swimming
 The Lions don't have many advantages over the other 31 teams, but here's one -- they have so many holes that any offseason addition has to make sense. They were good at nothing but throwing the ball often in 2006, and will need a few more facets to be competitive in 2007.
Their biggest move wasn't a pickup but a trade -- disgruntled CB Dre' Bly to the Broncos for T George Foster and RB Tatum Bell. That's two probable starters for one, and when you have the worst offensive line and the worst running game in the league, adding pieces is a necessity. They also got RB T.J. Duckett off the free-agent wire.
The Lions moved to replace Bly with former Rams DB Travis Fisher, and got one of the best defensive players available in ex-Tampa DE DeWayne White. White moved steadily up the Bucs' depth chart over his first four seasons, and had 14 sacks and 5 fumbles forced over the last three seasons.
Are the Lions all fixed? No. But when you've made as many poor moves as they have over the last half decade, a solid, thoughtful offseason is all you can hope for.
2006 rankings
|
Total O |
Score O |
Rush O |
Pass O |
Total D |
Score D |
Rush D |
Pass D | |
13 |
26 |
16 |
17 |
14 |
27 |
1 |
31 |
Free agents signed:
LB Vinny Ciurciu (Carolina)
TE Vicanthe Shiancoe (N.Y. Giants)
WR Bobby Wade (Chicago)
C Jason Whittle (Buffalo)
LB Napoleon Harris (Kansas City)
WR Bethel Johnson (Philadelphia)
Free-agency status: Sinking.
As you can see from the stats above, the Vikings put up fairly solid numbers in 2006 -- except for the fact that they were terrible on both sides of the ball when it came time to convert all those yards to points. They were a little above average in piling up and allowing yards, but finished 26th in scoring offense and 27th in scoring defense. This discrepancy between yards and points is represented by Minnesota's low rankings in both Scoreability and B endability.
Clearly, the Vikings need a big-play player somewhere, on offense or defense. It seems doubtful that this mystery player will be found in their crop of free-agent acquisitions to date: WR Bobby Wade is a career 11.9-yard-per-catch guy, TE Vicanthe Sciancoe averaged a prolific 8.75 catches per season in his four years with the Giants, and LB Vinny Ciurciu is a special teamer.
And Minnesota's most obvious and pressing need is quarterback, where Brad Johnson was bad last year and rookie Tarvaris Jackson was worse. They reportedly signed QB Drew Henson to a veteran minimum contract, but that's a shot in the dark. Finding a QB is their No. 1 goal, and it'll have to happen in the draft.
With the No. 7 pick overall, the Vikings are poised to get an impact player. They could certainly use one. Or two. Or three.
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