The landmark 1993 collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its players union created, among other things, a strong sense of parity in pro football. With unfettered free agency and a hard salary cap preventing any one franchise from buying up all of the good ones, the talent disparity from the best to the worst teams flattened.
This eventually created, courtesy of the 1999 St. Louis Rams, a sense that any team could turn around its fortunes in one year and win a Super Bowl. To the chagrin of coaches, general managers and quarterbacks drafted high in the first round, this trend eliminated the term "five-year plan" from the vocabulary of NFL owners. For fans, the concept that a very bad season could be followed by a very good one created hope that any year could be "the year."
Several clubs, however, haven't taken advantage of the NFL's new world order.
1. Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals snuck into the playoffs 10 years ago and won their only postseason game since the Truman administration. Since then, nothing. They've been competitive at times, and they've been a trendy pick the past two years to turn things around. But they haven't.
Part of the problem is the Cardinals are too quick to blame the team's fate on the head coach, creating a regular state of turmoil that makes it hard for the successor to be successful. At a deeper level, the Cardinals have yet to use the current system as a way to maximize their talent while properly managing the spending limits.
The Anquan Boldin situation is a prime example of the flaws that prevent this team from succeeding. With two high-end receivers on the roster, they've paid one of them (Larry Fitzgerald) a contract worth $10 million per year. But the other (Boldin) is making a fraction of that, and the two players are comparable in terms of skill and production.
Now they have to choose between keeping an angry Boldin, trading him or paying him. The Cardinals seemingly want to squat on Boldin, even though a T.O.-style situation could soon unfold.
Of course, none of this would have happened if Fitzgerald's rookie deal hadn't included escalators that backed the team into a cap crunch, forcing it to give him that $40 million deal.
Then there's Matt Leinart, the franchise quarterback the team drafted in 2006. He'll open the season riding the pine while the next player drafted behind him, Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, seems poised to become a star.
2. Cincinnati Bengals
Like the Cardinals, the Bengals have earned one postseason appearance during the free-agency era. Unlike the Cardinals, the Bengals didn't win a game before making their exit.
In Cincinnati, the problem is more obvious. The Bengals are one of the most profitable franchises in the NFL because they offset their low revenues with even lower expenses. One way they've kept expenses down is by having a skeleton crew in the scouting department, making it harder for them to identify the best players in free agency and the draft.
On many occasions, they pounced on a player who would have been selected several rounds higher but for off-field problems, because they don't know who else to take. And since the Bengals don't spend the money on in-house programs to keep guys with questionable backgrounds out of trouble, they tend to continue to get into trouble.
Earlier this year, the Bengals seemed to draw a line in the sand, dumping receiver Chris Henryafter his latest arrest. But when the team had needs at the position and didn't know where else to turn, Henry got another chance to screw things up.
Regardless of whether (or when) he does, the Bengals' strong 2005 season appears to have been an aberration.
3. Detroit Lions
The Lions have been dreadful since Matt Millen arrived as CEO. They're a full 50 games under .500 during Millen's tenure: 31 wins and 81 losses.
Before that, the Lions qualified for the playoffsfive teams in the first eight years of free agency. Given that the centerpiece of their roster was Barry Sanders, they probably should have been there every year and should have won at least one postseason game (they were 0-5).
Unfortunately for the fans of this trio of teams, the common thread is long-term ownership that won't be changing soon. Even if/when it does, the keys to the car will most likely stay in the same family, making it harder for meaningful change to come.
Thus, the three franchises who have yet to enjoy the fruits of the free-agency system likely will continue to struggle indefinitely into the future, regardless of whether the media generally thinks that one or more of them are due to turn it around in any given year.
From:http://www.jerseys-shopping.com | 
