Playmakers: Section II- Free Agency

The chapter that our group was assigned out of Playmakers by Mike Florio was “Part II: Free Agency.” Florio encompasses the extremely vast concept of the free agency system in this chapter, ultimately highlighting how financially reliant its happenings are. In fact, financial obligations are listed in each of the sections in the chapter: “Free agency rarely makes a huge difference for any team”; “The franchise tag hurts players more than fans realize”; “Thanks to free agency, Players often can’t stay put”; “Players should be celebrated for trying to get more”; “The Albert Haynesworth debacle”; “Running backs aren’t valued, and for good reason”; “Peyton Manning’s foray into free agency”; “Kirk Cousins cracks the franchise-tag code”; “Le’veon Bell’s lost season”; and “Tom Brady leaves town after twenty years.” As these section titles show, free agency, when handled correctly, can be very influential to the careers of both players and franchises. But, the handling of free agency isn’t typically the determining factor of a team’s success. Chances of injury or bad team commodity is much higher than the positive influence of a free agent, so teams have to be very conscious about what personnel they are obtaining, for how much money, and for how long. Free agency can also be a good opportunity for players, though, which is talked about in the section that I chose to look at: “Peyton Manning’s foray into free agency.” In this section, it was interesting to consider the possible blackmail happening by the Colt’s in hopes of forcing Manning to retire. Instead, the section highlights how Manning uses the free agency to his advantage by choosing to prolong his playing career with a different team. However, it is important to consider that not every NFL free agent can personally interview his prospective teams and demand an $18 million dollar minimum yearly salary. In other words, not every NFL free agent is Peyton Manning. Still, free agency is a legitimizing element of the league because it provides a platform for both players and franchises to seek better opportunities for themselves. This interchangeability keeps the league from being entirely concrete and can ultimately widen fan bases as faithful fans follow their player to new teams.