This was literally Dan Snyder every Free Agency period from 1999-2009.

So just how integral is signing free agents to winning a Lombardi Trophy? Just look at the Washington Redskins of last decade. Before he brought in Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen to run the show, Redskins owner Dan Snyder would break the bank to bring in free agents like Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith, (legends who were running on fumes by that point, Deion wasn't even able to last one full season with the team) or guys like Santana Moss, and Albert Haynesworth (guys who experience mild success before being overpaid.) Although Albert Hynesworth deserves his own list and column on how crippling his free agent deal was, the message is still the same: The free agent market is buyer beware. In the mid 90's, the Raiders signed back to back Super Bowl MVPs in Larry Brown and Desmond Howard only to see that backfire too.

Free agency was not created so that teams could find the few missing links to making their roster complete. It is an institution created to force teams to bid for player's services, thus driving up the price of player's salaries. There are many problems with the idea of signing some other player's role players and stars. The obvious being that too much money can poison a player's work ethic (see: every NBA free agent.) Also, for as much as we debate over system quarterbacks, and the system of the coach, we never seem to take into account whether or not a potential signee would fit into that teams system. Some stars may only be a role player in another teams system, while a role player's deficiencies may be severely exposed in a different system.

So knowing what we know now about free agency, I present with an extremely grim outlooks for the winners of free agency.

Miami Dolphins

The one team I will actually laud in this column. Although I have issue with the Mike Wallace signing, it certainly makes sense. Mike Wallace will have the safeties deep on most plays, which will make Davone Bess and Brian Hartline more open more often. The issue here is that Mike Wallace is prone to distraction and is not a complete wide receiver. The 2nd issue is not a glaring problem, as he was brought in to run those deep routes he is famous for, the issue is the whole being prone to distraction thing. As a Saints fan, I don't want us signing distracted guys. New Orleans is too fun for rich people, and after signing a 60 million dollar contract, Mike Wallace qualifies as rich. And Miami is probably more fun than New Orleans. The coaching staff is going to have to keep the reins on him in order to reap rewards on their investment. I'm trying to like the Danell Ellerbee signing, but that Ravens defense is a unique system, and if he were to leave, I would only be totally comfortable with him signing with the Jets or Colts, where former Raven's DCs are running the show (Rex Ryan and Chuck Pagano.) The other thing that can tank the Dolphins is fan expectation. Remember that Tom Brady is still in this division, and we are entering year 2 of the Tannehill era. Also considering they have made one playoff appearance since 2001, fans should view an 8-8 or 9-7 record as a giant coup for them.

Indianapolis Colts/Philadelphia Eagles

The Colts and Eagles were two teams I mentioned last week as being flush with over 30 million dollars of cap space, but they didn't go out and write out several blank checks. They mimicked each others strategy of going out and slightly overpaying for glue guys who will hopefully bolster their rosters with much needed depth. With the Eagles we are seeing a direct contrast to two years ago when they went out and signed the top player at several positions in an attempt to create a "Dream Team." **Side Bar- I declared one of my gymnastics teams a dream team before their season began, and we haven't won a single meet. So guys if you don't learn anything from Vince Young, learn it from me: declaring Dream Team is a bad idea. Every time. Seriously, don't do it.** The Colts signed RT Gosder Cherilus to a 5 year, 34 million dollar deal, but all the other contracts were mid level ones for mid level players, signing Packers LB Erik Walden, Patriots G Donald Thomas, and Arizona CB Greg Toler. Indy's biggest weaknesses were offensive line and defensive backfield, so the Colts made some low risk-high reward signings.

The Eagles, meanwhile, have used free agency to completely make over their defense. On the line, they signed Connor Barwin from Houston, and Issac Sopagoa from San Francisco. Both are high motor players, and Barwin comes from a fierce Houston defensive line, although as Houston lets more of these guys go and just plugs in the next man up, we have to wonder how much of their success is tied to Wade Phillips. In the defensive backfield, they added Lombardi winner Cary Williams and former Ram Bradley Fletcher at the corners, while they signed Kenny Phillips from the Giants and Patrick Chung from the Patriots to play safety. While I like Fletcher and Williams at the corner, they are going to have to play lights out if Chung and Phillips continue their tradition of getting beat deep routinely.

Baltimore Ravens

If there was a stock ticker for NFL teams that was based off of fan reaction, the Ravens would be deep in the red. Since signing Joe Flacco to a record setting contract, they have lost Anquan Boldin, Matt Birk, Paul Kruger, Danell Ellerbee, Ray Lewis, Cary Williams, and possibly Ed Reed as well. That is 1/3 of a championship starting line up. But this isn't some fire sale money grab by the owner, it is a look into the mind of the modern day NFL GM. Rather than overpaying these guys to stick around, GM Ozzie Newsome is doing his due diligence scouting out players to draft and take the departed player's roster spots at a fraction of the cost. I'm sure the coaching staff has guys ready to move into starting jobs that few people even know about yet. So before we bury the Ravens, lets at least give them a fair shot to defend their crown.

Cleveland Browns

After spending years and years (and years and years) trying to build a viable offense, the Browns have used Free Agency '13 to bolster their defensive line. They signed Desmond Bryant from the Raiders, who is a gargantuan and should help shore up the porous Brown's rush defense. They also signed LB Paul Kruger to a way-too-megadeal, giving full time player money to a part time player. Right now he figures to only be a rush linebacker in the 3-4, but if he can get double digit sacks, he will be worth the full time money he got (5 years, 40 million.) They also made a smart system signing, acquiring Quentin Groves, who played in DC Ray Horton's 3-4 in Arizona.

QB News

The Chiefs have totally redone their QB situation, going from Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn in 2012 to Alex Smith and Chase Daniel in 2013. Alex Smith with that Chiefs roster is worth 5 games to me, so if every one else can step up with Andy Reid in town, the Chiefs could be a surprise contender come the fall. Chase Daniel has spent 5 years learning from Drew Brees and Sean Payton and will now get to learn from Andy Reid. Though Daniel is an unknown commodity, I think he would be serviceable should Alex Smith suffer some sort of injury. He definitely won't give Alex Smith the same push that Colin Kaepernick gave him, and we shouldn't see Alex Smith playing scared or looking over his shoulder.

On the open market, Matt Cassel, Kevin Kolb, and Ryan Fitzpatrick are looking for jobs. Cassel and Kolb should land somewhere, as either a back up or as the veteran giving the young gun in town some competition (see: Minnesota, Tennessee, and Jacksonville.) I'm less optimistic about Ryan Fitzpatrick, because if you flame out in Cincinnati and in Buffalo, there isn't much hope left for you. However, just because it's back ups on the free agent market, that doesn't mean a starter isn't on the trade market. If you are Jacksonville, or Arizona, or even Cleveland, you have got to at least inquire about what it would take to get Matt Flynn from Seattle, or Ryan Mallet from the Patriots. Cleveland isn't in total no mans land, as I think Chudzinski can still salvage Brandon Weeden, but Jacksonville and Arizona have extremely untenable QB situations, and bringing in a veteran would be much better than drafting one of the rookies in this year's draft class.

Rumor Mill

San Francisco and Seattle are in extreme arms race mode. They had dueling trades right before free agency started, with Seattle nabbing Percy Harvin and San Fran acquiring Anquan Boldin. Seattle then bolstered its already effective pass rush by signing Cliff Avril. Now I'm hearing that San Francisco is the leading favorite to sign not only Nnamdi Asomugha...but also Charles Woodson!! NFC Super Bowl hopefuls in New York, Dallas, Green Bay, New Orleans, and Atlanta cannot be please about what is going on in the NFC West.

And this isn't really a rumor, just my funny quip I would like to share with you all. Peyton Manning must have reclined in his La-Z-Boy after signing Wes Welker, and took a sweet sip of whatever his drink of choice is. Tom Brady took a pay cut, while Peyton Manning cashed in on a 100 million dollar deal post neck surgery, and his team went out and signed Brady's favorite target the past five years in Wes Welker. There is no doubt in my mind as Peyton sipped his beverage he just laughed to himself and said "Tom Brady...what a sucker."

Next week: I go sentimental again, as I rejoice the end of my gymnastics season, complete with personal stories. Also, I will talk about the first days of March Madness so you guys will have something interesting to read. And as always, my Twitter handle is @nflopsandobs

The Spin IT Thursday Night Stream is our way of getting you, our readers, music in bulk rather than just one track at a time. Usually, we post artists who provide a free download link to their music or music videos or live performances, but that's what is different about the Stream. Every Thursday night, I post 10 tracks of my choosing that I found around the blogosphere over the course of the week.

Anything with the Download icon next to it is yours if you want it. Stream as you please.


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Bill Simmons, the most powerful figure in sports media according to Sports Illustrated, has officially been knocked down a notch by the powers that be in Bristol.

In response to the fallout that stemmed from a very awkward spat between Skip Bayless and Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman on First Take, Simmons took to Twitter later that night to blast First Take, Richard Sherman and, indirectly, ESPN.

While the consensus amongst media critics was that Simmons' open, sincere criticism might actually sway the views of ESPN higher ups and cause them to reconsider the existence of First Take, or at least it being on the air for 5 hours daily, the company appears to be going the other way, siding with Bayless and their self-generated circus show. Via John Koblin of Deadspin:

ESPN has suspended Simmons from Twitter for a few days after he called the Skip Bayless-Richard Sherman First Take meltdown last week awful and embarrassing. An ESPN source told me that the tweets violated ESPN's social media guidelines; Simmons was told to lie low for a few days. He hasn't tweeted since Tuesday Monday, and he'll apparently be allowed to return to Twitter tomorrow, making it a three-day hiatus. An ESPN spokesman declined comment, and Simmons didn't respond to an email.

But ESPN wouldn't be ESPN if it didn't punish a guy for being inconveniently correct. (Well, mostly. Sherman won. Bayless and First Take lost. Which means we won, too.) A few eagle-eyed readers emailed us to say that something seemed off. Simmons did not tweet out anything yesterday, nor did he tweet on Tuesday. Today, he was quiet again, except for a retweeted link from Grantland. This is not normal. He tweeted every single day in February, January, December, and November, skipping out on Twitter just once, on Feb. 7. SportsCenter could make a little graph showing just how prolific he is. Though Simmons has stayed off Twitter, he has certainly been keeping up with Facebook, posting about Wes Welker, a story he wrote, a blog post written about him, and a video of his dog.

Simmons was expected to make a trip out to New York this week for a sort of Grantland East brainstorming session, but he backed out over the weekend, we're told. He also didn't appear on NBA Countdown last night, though that was apparently previously scheduled.

Simmons has run into trouble with ESPN's Twitter police before. In 2009, he called a Boston Radio network—and an ESPN Radio affiliate—"deceitful scumbags" on Twitter, and he got a two week suspension from using it. He was on the tail end of a book tour then, so he was still "allowed" to tweet about the book, just as he was apparently allowed to retweet a Grantland link today.

In Sports Ilustrated's list released last week, Richard Deitsch ranked Bayless 10th and put Simmons directly above the likes of Tommy Craggs, Bob Costas, and Charles Barkley. It's important to note that all have taken much greater liberties than just speaking out on Twitter in their writing/broadcasting careers with their respective companies and have remained untouched by their employers, as they should be.

The fact that Simmons simply speaking (tweeting?) his mind garnered a punishment of any kind tells us that Simmons does not hold a fraction of the power that we thought he did.

Perhaps more tellingly, Bayless, whom the company has never even considered suspending from any platform despite countless instances of negative publicity, racism, and alienating his guests, seems to fit the mold of the top four laid out by Deitsch quite well.

As much as we'd all rather not even consider such a notion as possibly pertaining to the reality of today's sports media scene, it's one that every media critic should at least be thinking about today:

Is Skip Bayless the most powerful person in sports media?

With various reports floating around about which team Josh Cribbs will be signing with in free agency, the only absolute certainty is that he will no longer be a member of the Browns organization. Too often in sports, players and fans pander to their allegiances with their city or team, holding grudges of various sorts just for the sake of it.

However, that's not the case tonight, as one of the greatest Browns' special teamers of all time chose to go out with a classy farewell via his Instagram account:

 

Via CBS Sports:

Milwaukee power forward Larry Sanders was ejected from Wednesday's game against the Wizards after picking up two technical fouls. Sanders proceeded to give each referee the thumbs up salute one by one following getting tossed. He finished with 29 minutes and 17 points for the Bucks in the loss. Sanders was 8 for 13 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds with two blocks and a steal.

Full disclosure: David Stern should enforce that players give positive re-enforcement to the refs after every ejection. Bravo, Larry.

Perhaps more insulting than any of these clips was his final stat line of 39 points (25 FTM of 39 FTA), 16 rebounds, and 3 blocks en route to a Lakers victory. He's a dick, but at least he's not boring. Lacking in the wits department with the Yo Mama joke? Probably. But never boring.

Every Wednesday, John Daigle of theunbiasedfan.com stops by Spin IT to provide his assessment of various happenings around the NBA.

This week, Daigle introduces you to his (mostly) fool-proof system for determining which teams will be the last 3 in and the first 3 out in the Western Conference.

For more of John Daigle, be sure to visit The Unbiased Fan.

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With only a few weeks remaining in the regular season, there are quite a few things I can confidently claim to know: What Boston has accomplished without their best player on the court is nothing short of astonishing; George Hill might be having the most underrated NBA season of any player out there; The Heat are really, really good; The Bobcats are really, really bad; Bryan Colangelo already regrets the Rudy Gay trade; No matter their combined age or resting situation, every team should fear running into the Spurs during the postseason; The Grizzlies are a legitimate contender if their seeding-chips fall in the right place; The Detroit obituaries, if even for a second, had reserved a spot for Brandon Knight after the DeAndre dunk; Orlando might have a sneaky-good core of role players in place between Vucevic, Harris, Moore, and Harkless; I’m not sure what the hell the Sixers are doing; And did I mention the Heat are really good?

However, one issue I can’t seem to put my finger on is which teams will eventually sneak into the postseason for the West. The top five seeds, minus the obligatory jostling that’s sure to take place over the next few weeks, might be set in stone, but the six through eleven seeds are separated by a mere six games. How are we supposed to deduce who’s in and who stays home to enjoy the new season of Game of Thrones on the night-of?

The good news is, together, I feel like this can be accomplished. So, without further ado, I present to you the point scale that’s sure to help us reach a conclusion (or drive me to a Carrie Mathison-like state at the end of Homeland Season One).

It’s rather simple. We’ll only be judging Golden State, Houston, the Lakers, Utah, Dallas, and Portland, seeing as they’re the only teams left competing for three spots. A team receives two points for winning the category, one point for being an honorable mention, and half a point whenever I deem fit. (I wouldn’t try to argue that last bullet point, either. If you feel the need to protest any half-point increments, I’ll promptly use the Chewbacca defense and walk away.) In the end, we’ll tally the points we’ve divvied up to each team and see where we stand. Fail proof, right?

And as a friendly reminder, this is once again being brought to you by Around The Revolutions…

Strength of Schedule

Though this category offered numerous ways to approach it, I felt the best method was to address the toughest paths, rather than the easiest. For instance, the Warriors, Rockets, and Lakers have 10 games remaining against teams over .500, while Portland, on the other hand, has 16.

The worst luck happens to lean towards the Mavericks, who have 13 games left to play against above-.500 teams, yet only two games in which they could make up an entire game between themselves and the sixth seed (LAL, Portland).

However, the two most interesting outlooks to watch surrounding these six teams are (1) How the next seven games for Utah play out (@OKC, Mem, NYK, @Hou, @SA, @Dal, Por), and (2) How Los Angeles handles their final four games of the season (@Por, GS, SA, Hou). (Don’t worry. If it comes down to a win-and-in situation, you can lay the house on a Live Journal the following morning.)

Nonetheless, the clear winner here is Golden State. With only 10 games remaining against above-.500 teams, six of those happen to be versus opponents they could stay an entire game up on with a victory (Hou, LAL x 2, Port x 2, Utah).

SCORE:  Golden State – 2, Houston – 1, LAL – 1, Utah – 0, Dallas – 0, Portland – 0

Offense

Is there any doubt who walks away from this one with two points? Only one team throughout the entire league has scored more points than the Rockets (Denver), while the Knicks, who are second in the league in 3-point-attempts, rank nearly one hundred behind them. And even with their high-volume of shooting from behind the arc, Houston’s accuracy hasn’t taken a hit, sinking an incredible 37.3% of their 3’s. (For comparison, the Warriors have attempted just below 1300 and are shooting a league-best 39.7%.)

Just to drive home the point, the Rockets are also the only team on this list that rank in the top 10 of OffRtg (scoring 107.3 points per 100 possessions), assist percentage (60.9% of their shots come via assist), and rebounding percentage (50.7%, which shouldn’t come as too much of a shock seeing as Morey and McHale preach the Moneyball-method of volume-shooting and rebounding). (Though their second-worst opponent offensive rebounding percentage might need some work.)

SCORE:  Houston – 2, GS – 1, LAL – 0, Utah – 0, Dallas – 0, Portland – 0

Best Pending Reality Show

An incredibly strong category considering these are teams fighting to live another day. I’m not sure what Utah, Portland, or Golden State bring to the table in terms of entertainment, but Karoake with Delfino!, The Roast of Dwight Howard, and my personal favorite, Vinsanity’s School of Cycling undoubtedly have wheels.

SCORE:  Dallas – 2, LAL – 1, Houston – 1, Utah – 0, Portland – 0, GS – 0

Defense

In a not-so-coincidental coincidence, none of these teams are currently listed in the top 10 of defensive efficiency. In fact, none are ranked in the top 15. Actually, let’s take this a step further. Here’s a list of how many points per 100 possessions each team is currently allowing, with their league ranking in parentheses.

Golden State – 103.4 (17)

Los Angeles – 103.9 (18)

Utah – 104.1 (19)

Dallas – 104.2 (20)

Houston – 104.9 (24)

Portland – 105.3 (25)

Thanks for doing all the work for me, guys.

SCORE:  Every team -1

Future

There’s certainly a clear-cut winner here, however, almost every team deserves some sort of applause. The Trail Blazers began their transition during the most recent offseason, while the Warriors are currently competing with a team of surging youths that are destined to be an eventual contender with one or two more miniscule additions.

Furthermore, the Mavericks reasoning behind the release of Chandler revolves solely around the CBA and what lies in the future, the Lakers only have one player on the books during the Summer of Lebron (literally), and the Jazz hold all the cards with two exponential sign-and-trade pieces in Millsap and Jefferson. It’s just too bad each of these teams have to compete with the Rockets analytics.

I’ve written it time and time again, so I’ll save further barraging for another date. Just don’t be shocked when the Rockets “fill-in” players around a couple of maxed out superstars are (instead of casual names like Carter, Meeks, and Hayward) Lin and Asik.

SCORE:  Houston – 2, Dallas – 1, Utah – 1, GS – 1, LAL - 1, Portland – .5

Momentum

Sure, no one in the league might be trekking towards the playoffs like the Nuggets  (nine in a row/19-4 over their last 23, which is about an 11 on the Holy Shit Meter), but there are still a few outliers in this group that are just now reaching their peak.

Though they’re slowly attempting to right the ship, Golden State has been the complete opposite of this category as of late, going 6-12 over their last 18 games. On the same note, Utah is getting shelled in the second half of games, specifically in the third quarter, where they’ve allowed 111.8 points per 100 possessions while only scoring 92.8 over the course of their last seven games (2-6). (It should also be noted that even in those two wins, they scored 109.3 and allowed 136.5 in the third.)

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Rockets are finding a groove, and Dallas is hitting their stride at the right time, winning five of their last six. The big winner here, though, remains the Lakers.

Rising from the depths of 17-25, Los Angeles has somehow collected themselves over time, now sitting three games above .500. Howard’s momentous 39 and 16 in Orlando may or may not have been an important niche and turning point of this season (let alone his career), but either way, the Lakers are building chemistry en route to a likely postseason berth.

SCORE:  LAL – 2, Houston – 1, Dallas – 1, GS – 0, Utah – 0, Portland – 0

Clutch

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to America’s favorite game show: GUESS! THAT! NAME!!

You already know how to play, so let’s jump straight into it. Ready? Ok, go ahead and…GUESS! THAT! NAME!!!

Your category is: THE FINAL FIVE MINUTES…

Kyrie Irving – 43-90 FG, 47.8 FG%, 9-28 3FG, 32.1 3FG%

(Player A) – 17-34 FG, 50 FG%, 14-25 3FG, 56 3FG%

Answers locked? Well, if you guessed Wesley Matthews…YOU’RE CORRECT! Thanks for playing, and as always, please have your pets spayed or neutered.

Of the 38 players that qualified with 100+ minutes logged during the final five minutes of games (when CLUTCH statistics are tracked), Matthews has the highest shooting percentage from beyond the arc (per NBA Stats Database) and has been a constant go-to, along with Lillard.

I realize you want the ball in Kobe’s hand during those must-have moments, especially since he’s still playing out-of-this-world great. Or maybe you’ll even suffice with Harden/Virk Carwitzki. But come on, Portland is still in the negatives! Plus, we somehow have to make up for LaRue Martin, Mychal Thompson, Greg Oden, and Arvydas Sabonis (every Trail Blazers fan just smashed their computer).

SCORE: Portland – 2, LAL – 1.5, Dallas – 1, Houston – 1, Utah – 0, GS - 0

So, if you’ve been keeping track, the totals are as follows (drum roll, please)…

Houston – 7

Los Angeles – 5.5

Dallas – 4

Golden State – 3

Portland – 1.5

Utah – 0

And there you have it. I’m not saying it’s a fool-proof plan for figuring the West out, but it’s the best method we have, RIGHT?