Raiders, Browns are early losers in NFL free agency

By Kent Somers

(Photo: Rob Schumacher/azcentral sports)

Nothing produces as much malfeasance, gluttony and silliness as giving someone pockets full of money and access to shiny, expensive things.

The first few days of NFL free agency proved that.

With the salary cap rising $10 million to $133 million, many teams had money to spend, and the collective-bargaining agreement effectively keeps them from keeping it in the vault.

We’re only three days into free agency, and normally, we like to take more time to render judgment. But the schedule said the column was due Thursday afternoon, so here are some thoughts on the first few days of NFL free agency.

• From everything we’ve heard, Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie is a fine man. And becoming the Raiders’ GM is like buying a house “as is” from a hoarder. It’s going to take a while to clean up the mess.

But it doesn’t look like McKenzie is capable of flipping the Raiders’ fortunes.

Despite being $60 million or so under the cap, the Raiders did not put the franchise tag on left tackle Jared Veldheer.

That allowed the Cardinals to swoop in and sign him. The Raiders countered by signing Rams tackle Rodger Saffold to a five-year deal worth $5 million more than the Cardinals are paying Veldheer.

Strange enough.

Then, the Raiders informed Saffold’s agents that their client failed his physical. Bad shoulder.

Saffold and his agents were stunned. The +St. Louis Rams who wanted to keep Saffold all along, then signed him for $32 million or so over five years, about $10 million less than the Raiders were going to pay Saffold.

• The only team easier to rip than the +Oakland Raiders is the +Cleveland Browns. They let safety T.J. Ward and linebacker D’Qwell Jackson leave and replaced them with Donte Whitner of the 49ers and Karlos Dansby of the Cardinals. So the Browns spent more money to get older, not necessarily better.

Dansby played at an elite level last year for the Cardinals and was an incredible leader. But he’s 32. Unless a team is one piece away from contending, it should not sign a 32-year-old player to a four-year deal that contains around $14 million guaranteed.

The Cardinals basically waved goodbye to Dansby from the front porch.

Maybe they will regret it, but we doubt it.

• It’s a flush market for cornerbacks, but the +Denver Broncos’ Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie watched as a lot of money circled his drain.

The Broncos wanted to re-sign Rodgers-Cromartie, who played well for Denver in 2013. But they couldn’t agree on a price, and the Broncos were nervous about giving him enough money to fill 100 or so of the kiddie backpacks he favors.

So John Elway, Broncos vice president of football operations, operated. Just like that, the Broncos moved on and signed Aqib Talib to a six-year deal.

• +Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson is a happy person by nature. He smiles a lot. He’s probably really smiling these days, with cornerbacks getting an average of $10 million a year with guarantees in the range of $25 million.

The Cardinals are expected to open negotiations with Peterson’s agents, Joel Segal and Chafie Fields, sometime this off-season.

• Elway has shoved all of owner Pat Bowlen’s money to the middle of the table. With more cap space than someone with a size-8 head, Elway addressed his team’s defensive deficiencies.

He signed Talib, Ward and pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware to contracts that include around $60 million of guarantees.

Spending big in free agency often doesn’t result in a successful season (see Philadelphia, 2011, the “Dream Team” that went 8-8). But the Broncos, with Peyton Manning at quarterback, are going for a title now.

Reach Somers at 602-444-8335 or kent.somers@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @KentSomers.