Quote:"The biggest spenders in free agency usually don't succeed. Last year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent more than $143 million on unrestricted free-agent contracts and ended up at the top of the draft after a 2-14 season."

 

The statement, "The biggest spenders in free agency usually don't succeed." is pointless.   Here's why.  

 

The reason they usually don't succeed is because the biggest spenders in free agency are the teams with the most cap space, and the number one reason teams have a lot of cap space is bad drafting (they don't have players that deserve big extensions).   Therefore, the teams that spend the most on free agency are the worst teams.    Great teams, the ones that succeed year after year, don't wind up with much cap space to use on outside free agents.

 

So to me, this says, spending big in free agency is not what causes a lack of success, it's the other way around.   Lack of success causes big spending in free agency.  

 

So the bottom line is, spend big if you have the money.   You may or may not have success the following season, but spending big in free agency is not what will cause the lack of success.  

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