Free Agent Updates

Saints resign WR Devery Henderson. Here's another receiver with deep speed who has trouble catching the ball. He can be, at times, a great big play guy, and at others a complete disappointment. He's young, and I'm hoping he can turn a corner. 

Carolina signs CB Ricardo Colclough. A long-time backup with the Steelers and then the Browns, Colclough adds depth and special teams ability. 

Eagles signed DE Chris Clemons. He had 8 sacks a situational pass rusher with the Raiders last season and I'm sure Jim Johnson can get something out of him. The Eagles are quietly building up a stockpile of DEs that could rival the Giants'. Watch for them to be a big contender next season. 

Falcons signed both FS Eric Coleman and CB Von Hutchins. Both of these are very good and very quiet moves. Finding someone to start opposite Lawyer Milloy has long been a problem for the Falcons and Coleman was a great starter for the Jets for three out of his four seasons there. Hutchins is also an underrated nickel corner in the league who quietly makes some big plays. He could probably be upgraded to play #2 CB in a pinch. 

WR Berrian Signs With Vikings

In an unfortunate move for the Bears, Berrian ended up signing with division rival the Minnesota Vikings. They really need him though, but so did the Bears. Both teams have basically no proven starters at WR, except Berrian, between them. The Vikings' entire depth chart at WR has 20 starts in total over the last 3 seasons, spread over about 5 different players. 

Browns Sign WR Stallworth

The New England Patriots' receiver group took another hit today when Donte Stallworth signed with the Cleveland Browns. He's always had amazing speed, but his hands are somewhat suspect and he drops balls. I'd look for them to play him in the slot and stretch the field, hoping to improve his pass-catching so he can eventually replace Joe Jurevicius. 

Bills Trade for DT Stroud

Probably a good move here, my only concern would be that Stroud has missed 12 games over the last two seasons and is 30 years old. Also, he's never been as productive as he was during the 2002 - 2004 stretch in which he had 6.0, 4.5, and 4.5 sacks respectively. Since then, he has only totaled 6.5 sacks. He posted his best numbers for tackles during that 2002 - 2004 stretch as well. He is, nonetheless, a huge upgrade for Buffalo at DT, which has been a problem for them basically since they lost La'Roi Glover. 

I should also mention that the Jaguars are probably grooming replacement DT Derek Landri. He had a spectacular rookie season after filling in for Stroud while he was injured, and I particularly remember a great sack of his against Ben Roethlisberger during their playoff game. I think he's going to be something special. 

Jaguars Sign CB Florence

A long-time starter in San Diego, Florence lost his starting job midway through last season to Antonio Cromartie, who was drafted to replace him. He quietly and skillfully played nickel corner for the rest of the season despite the demotion and so is clearly a player of character. The other thing I like about this signing is that Florence can still be a very effective #2 CB in this league and Rashean Mathis finally has someone to play across from. Florence will compete with Brian Williams in training camp for the starting job, and the loser will be the nickel corner. 

49ers Sign DE Justin Smith

So you can tell that the 49ers know a lot of people are going to get fired if they don't win this season. They signed Justin Smith to a 6 year, 45 million dollar deal. This is a really good hire for them since Smith has the strength, ability, and size to take on Guards when pass rushing, and that's going to be important for him in the 3-4. I think that at times his performance was hurt by the fact that he's not the fastest DE out there and has trouble getting from the edge of the line to the QB in a hurry. There might be something to be said for the fact that if the 49ers don't play well next season he may decide to take some snaps off since he's now signed long-term... but I think he'll have at least 2 or 3 dominant seasons in San Francisco. 

Dolphins Rehauling Roser

For obvious reasons. Over the last two days, in addition to the ones already reported, the Dolphins have hired the following Free Agents:

Ernest Wilford WR

Michael Lehan CB

Randy Starks DT

Sean Ryan TE

David Kircus WR

Already Reported:

Josh McCown QB

Justin Smiley RG

Reggie Torbor LB

Parcells isn't exactly sitting on his roster. He's also employing a very interesting strategy that the Bucs used to great effect last season, which is to pick up a lot of former first round picks (Randy Starks) and other players who used to be successful (Kircus) to upgrade the talent pool of his team.