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As NFL free agency has quickly moved into "Tier 3" territory, I thought it would be interesting to track the Free Agency history of this current regime.
CHART: 2010-2011
CHART: 2012-2013
This is not an exhaustive list of every free agent signed (hundreds of players came through the VMAC in the early years), just notable players, and gives a sampling of how this current roster was built, and the decisions made early in the regime compared to those today. Here are some quick observations:
- The "Yellow" indicates that the free agent was later signed to another contract (basically that they "proved themselves" under this regime); notice that some work and others don't - that's expected, and part of the process.
- This list does not include players that re-signed with the Seahawks, but were with the Seahawks before Pete Carroll and John Schneider (Brandon Mebane, Max Unger, Ben Obomanu, Leroy Hill, Marcus Trufant, or even a Roy Lewis).
- If you notice the "previous ties" column, almost all the Tier 1 and Tier 2 free agents always have a previous tie. Interestingly, Cliff Avril, Jason Jones, and Alan Branch had no previous ties (but were on short deals).
- Will the 2013 Seahawks do something in Tier 3 free agency? (To be fair, they have signed Will Blackmon and Darren Fells) They likely will, but look at how it has become almost un-needed because the roster is filled with younger drafted or undrafted rookie type players that have "grown up" in the program.
- Notice how age is such an important factor when signing Tier 1 and Tier 2 Free Agents, not so much in Tier 3.